Torn
by This Faithless Romance
Summary: Being a teenager is hard, but when you're suddenly 'transported' into the Naruto word things go from weird... to weirder for Lynx and her friends. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome, but PLEASE no flames! Hope that you enjoy it!
1. The Beginning

"_Motivation such an aggravation, accusations don't know how to take them, inspirations getting harder to fake it, _" I sang into my hairbrush, my hips moving to the beat enjoying the music when 'someone' ruined my moment!

"Lynx if you don't get your ass in here right now I--"

"Whatever, I'll be there in like five seconds Nick! Sheesh, can't a girl even get dressed!" I shouted back at Nick, then painstakingly put my clothes on and went into the small living room in the middle of our apartment. "What is it?"

"Well, we sorta have school in like FIVE MINUTES!" Nick shouted at me, I fake pouted and he sighed in annoyance.

Sniffle sniffle "I-I'm sorry that I held you up…" Turning away I gave him a glance with the pouty-face still on then grinned when I saw his face in an expression of pure pity.

"OK, OK, I'm sorry. But could you please hurry up? We're already late for homeroom."

"Fine, just let me get my bag." With that I ran into my room and returned with a hot pink bag that had 'Hands Off' written in black print in the middle.

It took ten minutes to reach our school, it was still homeroom when we got there so we split ways. I sighed as I walked down the empty halls, I hated empty halls, I hated being by myself. Being by myself meant I had to think, thinking meant reminiscing, and reminiscing meant pain.

"Yuck, life sucks."

"Oh, so you're going emo now Lynx?" A voice sounded behind me.

"Haha, so funny Alexis." Alexis Mobely, one of my two best friends and the prettiest girl I know.

She was pretty amazing, smart as well, and was part of like every club possible, and had at least half the guys at the school in love with her. I admired her as my friend, and at times I was jealous, but I loved her like a sister. She was always there for her friends and has honestly never let any of us down.

"Too bad, black would totally suit you, and you're already depressing." I rolled my eyes playfully at her when she poked me. "Don't roll your eyes at me young lady!"

"Shut up Alexis, and I know it does, every colour suits moi!" Striking a pose I blew a kiss at our make-believe audience.

We burst out laughing, finally regaining ourself in time for the bell to ring and a herd of students coming towards us.

"C'mon, let's get to first period, but in ten minutes I'll meet you out here again?" She asked, as we ran towards our next classes before the other kids had a chance to run us over.

"OK," We nodded our heads and we went to our classes.

'Oh great! Next is science… I hate science… Gyah! I wish that it would just die and be buried in some grave a thousand miles from here, anywhere but THIS school!' I thought to myself, as you can guess, I really don't like science. I mean really don't like it, almost to the point where I tried to commit suicide during a lecture on "light" in seventh grade, okay, actually I just poked myself with a pencil until I bled… hehe, but I still prefer to call it "suicide" it's way more dramatic (yeah, I know, drama queen).

Once I reached the classroom I took a deep breath and entered.

"Hey Lynx!" Nick's voice came from the back of the classroom.

"Hey Nick! What's up?" I replied, walking over to join him.

"Not much, but there's good news, and it has something to do with science… Can ya guess?" He smirked as my eyes widened hopefully.

"The science teacher has dropped dead and so the school decided to ban science of any kind from this school, and they filed a restraining order against lectures?"

"Don't be so hopeful, you know that dreams don't come true. Actually, today science has been cancelled because they're having a sex ed. lecture instead."

I started giggling, I loved sex ed. lectures, mostly cuz Nick got all embarrassed and I loooooooved teasing him! But also because if you didn't like to talk about sex and such you could get out easy and if you skipped the whole period they wouldn't care. But the best part today was no science, though technically sex ed. is science!

"Oh, but Lynx, please don't make fun of me. It's really annoying." He muttered to me, blushing.

"Haha, Nick, no way you're too much fun! And hey, you're my B.F.F.L. it's my job!" He glared at me but didn't make any more stupid remarks.

Finally the bell rung and they called attendance, then the sex ed. guy started lecturing us on the importance of condoms. 'Now the fun starts.' I thought evilly.

"Nick! I knew we should have used a condom! But nooooo! You said they didn't matter! Gyah! You idiot, what if I get pregnant?!" I shouted at him, just loud enough for all the kids around us to hear.

They stared wide eyed, and the guys were about to congratulate Nick when Nick started blushing furiously and stuttered, "We di-didn't. St-stop it!" Then everyone just burst into laughter, knowing that I was making fun of him and it hadn't really happened, and as if on cue the lecturer noticed we were all talking and laughing and shouts up at us,

"Hey! What're you kids laughing about? This is a very important topic!" We all sobered up, but small bouts of snickers still came from around us where I was busy teasing Nick, and talking about some very private issues in a "whisper".

I looked up at the clock, ten minutes past, better get going!

"Uh, sir, I have some 'girl problems' to attend to. May I be excused?" I asked putting on my innocent face.

"Of course." And with that I ran out of the room to meet Alexis.

"Hey! It's about time! C'mon, we better hurry, we only have like two hours till lunch break and I've got a date with Terry at 1:30."

"Fine, fine, so where are we goin' gal?" I asked her.

"Dunno, I want to go to the clubhouse. We haven't been there in so long… Not since, you know…" Her voice faded.

"Alexis, let's not talk about that until we get there, it'll be easier, I'm sure." She nodded, but nonetheless I saw her eyes sparkling, it broke my heart to see her like that. "Oh Alexis," I said that pulled her into a firm embrace.

I held her at arms length and looked into her blue eyes, and I smiled at her. Just a smile, but she immediately started to laugh. I soon joined her, and finally her tears seemed to be gone, so we kept on our way, linking arms together.

"We're here Lynx." Alexis stated, her voice barely more than a whisper.


	2. The Clubhouse

The clubhouse looked the same as ever, same ditch, same stream that ran through the middle, it was the same, the same little clearing in the wood. I was choking on all the tears, all the tears and memories, all the happiness, all the innocence, all of my friends… Only Nick, Alexis, and me left to share these memories though, to drown in the pain… I can't think like this, no I really can't. We promised to cry, or to think of what we had lost, but of what we had had… And I will keep that promise. I must, for Alexis' sake.

"Alexis, you don't have to hold back, we're here again. We're home. And you don't ever have to hold your tears here. Remember?" I told her, and pulled her again into a tight embrace and cradled her as she let it all out.

"I-I-I can't believe they're g-gone, they're not coming back are they?" She was crying softly.

"No, no I don't think they are Alexis." Not crying was becoming almost painful as I said what I had been dreading to say.

"WHY? WHY? WHY ARE THEY GONE? WHY AREN'T THEY HERE WITH US? GOD! WHY THE FUCK DID THEY DIE? WHY THE FUCK DID WE LET THEM? AND NOW THEY'RE ALL FUCKING GONE! NO!" She screamed, her voice was filled with pain as she let out feelings that she could only trust me with.

I just held her tighter, hoping that maybe one day she wouldn't hurt, one day she wouldn't cry when she's alone because she couldn't hold out the memories that haunted her. I knew there was no hope for me, so I hoped for her. My best friend, my sister, one of few people who I would give everything to without holding back. The only other is Nick, but there used to be more. There used to be five of us, five best friends. All of us thought that it was forever, and it would have been too. We had even sealed it in blood, a contract of a sort, on a large oak, the only in the forest, and it was right in the middle of the clearing/clubhouse.

Alexis was no doubt remembering the day it happened, for she was now curled up in my arms holding her head as if in physical pain. I looked at her with pained eyes and bent down closer to her. I needed to get her home, and, as if on cue, a rustling from just behind me sounded and out came Nick. He took one glance at Alexis and understood, picking her up bridal style and we started walking.

"Alexis, c'mon, it'll be alright. They're in the next world, they're in the happy one, without any pain, you don't have to worry. And until you leave this one to join them you'll always have us two." He murmured, and her sobs became slightly less and she leaned against his chest.

"I know Nick, but they were part of us, they were our best friends. They were killed in front of us, how can you pretend that it doesn't hurt? How can you even try to convince yourself that everything will be OK? We were all in the same boat together, no parents, no family, no friends! Not until each other, you guys were my life, you still are! Losing Em and Jake was too much for me! I never even got to tell Em happy birthday, or tell Jake that him that that ass of a girl Brit wasn't worth his time… He died dating a girl who didn't give a shit about him, and Em died before she ever even knew what it was to feel love in any way other than what you would feel for your brothers or sisters. Don't you remember all the things that we left unsaid, all the things that we had held inside and never even knew were there until they were gone, and all the things that they would never know, it was all too late! I'm sorry that I miss them! I'm sorry that I loved them! I'm sorry that what should have come out I-I'm sorry, please don't leave me!" She whimpered, her sobs were almost nonexistent now, she knew what she felt, but she couldn't feel it.

She was numb to her pain, numb to her happiness, numb to the world, and she couldn't help it, no matter how much she wanted to, it was just there. Nick was in tears now, not crying just tears, he was breaking down, I knew it, while Alexis grew numb he grew weak, and letting the tears fall and his hurt take over he fell to the ground where he held Alexis tightly and started to cry. It was soft, and it displayed his hurt better than any avalanche of tears would. They were hurt, and I couldn't do anything, anything but hold them tightly and keep my face emotionless, because the only emotion I could feel right now would let my walls crash down, but I couldn't. No I couldn't.

I felt what Alexis and Nick felt tenfold, but I couldn't show any of it because I was the backbone of the friendship that kept us alive, I was the only thing that stopped them from dying inside completely, I smiled when they hurt and made the days bearable, I numbed their pain, and I was the one who stood steady when their walls were crashing down on them. It hurt to keep it to myself, but these two needed me right now, more than ever. They always had needed someone, they were open, and strong, and brave, and used to be the strongest people I knew, but they hurt like everyone else and they'd both come to me for as long as I could remember, everyone always did.

I felt the memories flood back and I felt an almost physical pressure on my head as they exploded in my head, I remembered Em, the only person that had ever understood me.

"_Lynx, you don't ever have to hide yourself from me. You know I can see right through you." Em told me as I faked a smile._

"_Em, I'm fine, really. You don't have to worry about me, but anyways, what is it you need me for? I know it's not school, you know I have the worst grades ever!" She laughed as I said that._

"_Oh, trust me, it has nothing to do with that! Actually I was wondering what's wrong, I'm not stupid Lynx, I can see how you look at Conner and I know that he's hurt you. What happened?" She looked right into my eyes and I felt see-through, like my skin didn't exist and there was a little note right inside my heart that said, 'I'm hurt and I need someone right now.'_

"_Em, I was talking to Virginia and she said to me 'Guess what?' I was like, 'What?' Then she said, 'Conner asked me out today! He's sooooooo sweet! OMG I can't believe it! Hehe!' Then she giggled that annoying little preppy giggle of hers. I kept on talking to her but I ran home the second she left! But he's going out with her! Her! I can't believe it! Maybe I should tell him how I feel? No I couldn't do that, what if he doesn't like me back and he tells everyone! Em I really like him and I don't know what to do now!" I couldn't help it I just started crying, letting the tears flow and I felt Em's arms wrap around me and she murmured words of comfort into my ear._

"_Lynx, don't worry about it, he's just a crush, just a boy. He's not worth crying about, cuz the one who is won't make you cry, remember that? Remember that he would never let you hurt, and he wouldn't be going out with Gin would he?" I shook my head, she looked at me contentedly and my tears stopped as suddenly as they had come. She was right, he wasn't worth it, no way! Conner my boy you are definitely not the guy for me! You've made me cry one too many times, and I'd rather give my heart to a boy who actually cares about me!_

_I gave Em the tightest hug ever and shouted into her ear "THANKS EM! YOU'RE THE BEST!"_

"_Ouch! No need to deafen me! I CAN HEAR YOU OK?" She screamed back and we laughed together._

"Lynx, let's go home." Alexis told me, I smiled lightly and helped her up, then surveyed her and Nick. Red, puffy eyes, white streaks down her face where her foundation used to be, and on Nick, just puffy eyes, and heavy breathing. They weren't a pretty sight.

"Are you OK? We could camp out here for the night? The sleeping bags and tent are still hidden in the oak stump?" I offered, we weren't that far from the clubhouse, and though this all started while trying to get away, sometimes just being next to your memories can stop the hurt, or at least quell it to a bearable level, and let you think about the good things, rather than all the bad… It always turned out that way anyways for Alexis and Nick.

They nodded in consent and we started to walk back, taking our sweet time as we passed over the dewy ground. I tried to start a conversation, but they were both too gone to really be able to talk. By the time we made it there it was well past second period, the sun was actually coming close to touching the horizon, spreading the most beautiful pinks and blues through the skies. Me and Alexis gazed in awe at the sight while Nick spread out the sleeping bags.

He looked at us and chuckled quietly to himself, "What?" I asked him.

"Nothing, it's just you two actually seemed all peaceful and innocent for a second!"

"What you're saying we're not innocent?" I aimed a scowl at him at the same time as Alexis butted in.

"Sorry to break it up, but you two better shut your gabs so that I can watch the sunset in moderate peace!" She told us sternly.

"Hey, Alexis, I thought we were just taking off like one or two periods? Not the whole day? I mean I'm fine with bunking and all, I gots nothing to lose, but what about you and your boyfriend?" I asked her, curious that she would put breaking down in front of her friends in front of having an awesome lunch date with her boyfriend.

"Well, he can wait, anyways us three don't get out enough!" She exclaimed happily.

"Yeah you're right, it's already taking a toll on Lynx here." Nick said, gesturing to me, for my ass was planted on the ground and I was making werewolf noises.

"I see what you mean." Alexis said, laughing soon joined by Nick.

"Stop laughing at me! I'm VERY sane, and I DO get out enough! Hmpf! All I'm doing is trying to attract werewolves so that they can bite me and I can join them! Mwahahahaha! Then I'll bite you two in the dead of the night, all very stealthy like, then you'll join me on our quest for human blood!" I laughed maniacally again as Alexis and Nick gawked at me.

"Oh my god! Someone help us! Lynx has lost it and she's trying to kill us! Nooooooo!" Nick screamed into the air, and soon him and Alexis joined me on the floor laughing their asses off.

After a while I guess we sorta calmed down and made dinner (yea we used to keep food at the clubhouse, and even though it's been a good five months it was still good cuz we only kept canned things, and stuff that would last for a long time there). Everything that happened from the laughing to dinner was a blur, but it was all pretty normal stuff, reminiscing, joking around, just talking, and sometimes that uncomfortable silence that only a fart or belch can break in a satisfying way. But being content like that is never a good omen, for all good things can only come with an even or larger amount of bad things, and in our case this was the calm before the storm, the calm before our whole lives turned upside down, inside out and were all together messed up. Are you ready to hear what happens? Well, either way, I don't care, getting all this down is really helping me cope right now, so let's get to the beginning of the storm.


	3. Change of Scene

"You know, you guys, this is crazy, I'm actually having fun here, why didn't we do this before?" Alexis asked, I laughed then replied.

"Sometimes it's hard to face your past, but when it comes down to it once you've faced your past you'll be able to face your future and see your past in a different light, and in our case remembering the life rather than the death."

"You know, you should put your smarts into your schoolwork instead and you'd be a straight A student gal! Why don't you?" Alexis asked me.

"Well duh! Does it look like I actually care about my future, with you peoples here with me I gots nothing to worry about! The past, present, future, as long as you and Nick are in them my life shall be PERFECT!"

Nick started laughing, "You know, you really are crazier than you look!"

He was talking about my surprisingly flaming (though it was more of a deep sorta rouge colour) long, crinkly, red hair, "Boy there ain't nothing wrong with my hair, or do you gots a problem with redheads?"

"What if I do?" I tackled him to the ground and sat on his stomach.

"Take. It. Back."

"HELL. NOOOOOOO!"

"Oh you're gonna pay for that!" I was about to tickle him when I heard a sound like a whirlwind, and I felt a strange sensation in my mind, like just my brain was being crushed but I was completely numb to any pain, it was just… It's hard to explain, but you get the picture right?

"Wha-what was that." I heard Alexis say, it was loud like she was right there, but she sounded a thousand miles away, like it was just her echo.

"I don't know, Nick are you OK?" I said, letting no fear or emotion come into my voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He sounded as far away as Alexis. I did not have a very good feeling about this.

"You guys, tell me what you see." I could see the clubhouse, except with no Alexis or Nick, it was scary, but I didn't think I was there either.

"I see the clubhouse, but you guys aren't there… What is this? Am I even there?" Alexis sounded unsure, but I felt her presence and quickly stretched my arms out behind me and grasped two hands with my own, then I saw them, Alexis and Nick. Oh thank god, they were fine.

I let out an audible sigh, and heard them make similar sounds of relief. Then suddenly I couldn't see the clubhouse, all that was there was nothing, whether it was white or black I honestly don't know, it just wasn't. Nothing was, just me, Alexis and Nick in nothing. And again, we weren't there, we were in the middle of a forest, in a small clearing not unlike the clubhouse. And there, in the middle, was the stump of an oak tree, the one where we had sealed our friendship. My eyes widened with surprise.

"The Stump." Alexis breathed, Nick just stood there, his breathing shallow and a look of bewilderment on his face.

Alexis ran over to it and hugged it, yeah, she hugged a tree, Ok, the stump of a tree. I ran over with her and fell to my knees with her and grabbed what I could of the foot tall stump. Nick stood behind us, if I had looked behind me I would have seen a look of amusement playing on his features.

"OK, you guys are seriously freaking me out now." Nick said, then added, "We also happen to have more important things to do than hug trees. Like maybe find out WHERE THE FUCK WE ARE!"

"Hehe, forgot about that." I said, giggling, pulling myself away from the stump.

"Yeah, maybe we should be focusing on that… Thanks for reminding us blondie (our nickname for him when he says or does something smart), oh yeah, and blondie? Cussing is vewy, vewy bad!" Alexis started giggling with me.

"You two are E.V.I.L. Did you hear that? E.V.I.L. and insane, you evil insane people!" Nick rolled his eyes at us. We giggled harder.

"Who are you, and what business do you have in Konoha?" A harsh voice came from behind us, me and Alexis still giggling.

"Who-the-what-now?" Nick said, cocking his head to the side.

I fell over laughing, grasping my stomach in pain. Alexis soon joined me and we even had Nick holding in a chuckle! The man who asked us the question quickly had two more people who were dressed sorta like him join him. They slung me and Alexis over their shoulders, and the speaker started talking to Nick while pulling him along. While we let out indignant squeaks, then started giggling again.

"Do you have passports? Or any identification on you?" Said the man slightly gruffly.

"I'm afraid not, we just sorta appeared here." Nick replied, not impolitely, but not offering any real respect or courtesy to the man.

"What is your name?"

"Nick."

"Last name?"

"I don't give out my last name to strangers, I usually don't walk with strangers either, but I'd rather not handled like a package like you're doing to my friends."

"Don't be smart with me!" He was impatient now, but Nick pulled on an innocent face and cocked his head to the side in a slightly exaggerated fashion.

"I'm not being smart with you, it's just that I'm only 13 and I'd rather not be raped or abducted or something," Nick then added in an undertone, "Like I'm not already being kidnapped."

The man slapped Nick on the side of his head, that infuriated me and my giggling stopped immediately as I fell ungracefully off the mans shoulder, kicking him where the sun don't shine in the process.

"Don't touch my friend." I said harshly, brushing off the dirt and leaves that were now on my body.

I then ran at the man, I pulled my fist back, but when I was about to release it found that it was being held back and the man wore a bored expression. I then tried to kick him, but he quickly twisted my arm and threw me into a tree, I felt a sharp pain spread throughout my body then suddenly felt like I was falling, a roller coaster in a way, and then I wasn't there. I had blacked out.


	4. Ninjas?

I awoke to find myself in a white room, white covers, white everything. I shuddered, I hated hospitals, too many needles. I didn't mind the white, I didn't even mind the operations or the hurt or the blood, or those yuck clothes, it was the needles. I didn't even get injections done, I always found a way to get out of them. But here I was, a tube in my arm and lying in a hospital bed, I almost fainted again looking at the tube.

"You're finally awake." A man walked towards me, he was the man that had threw me into the tree and was the reason I had a tube in my arm, ewwww, a needle was stuck in me! EWWWW!

I showed no emotion on my face, and he merely smirked.

"Aren't you afraid I might hurt you again?" He asked, clearly amused.

"I honestly don't care, now what happened to my friends? Did you like rape them then kill them or something? And are waiting to do the same to me, but wanted to hear my screams of pain and so you waited till I was awake? Cuz you mother fucker, if I have found out you touched my friends, I swear I will murder you. Understand? Now spill you asshole." I let a sliver of ferocity creep into my words, but I kept them cold and emotionless.

He wasn't phased, what was up with this guy? First of all he throws me into a tree with ONE ARM, then I threaten to murder him and all he does is smirk? Whatever it was, I wouldn't let him see that I really was afraid, I had to seem intimidating, even though after yesterday I'm quite sure that would be hardly possible.

"They're fine, they have talked to the Hokage about your situation and have been released and are right now under the care of one of our strongest and most responsible shinobi and his team." He simply stated, still smirking that infuriating smile.

I snorted, letting my annoyance show.

"What are you here for you, you stupid gloating little son of a fu--" I was cut off by a hand on my mouth, I bit down on it hard, just hard enough for it to hurt, not to draw blood.

"Ow, shit Lynx! What was that for you?" It was Nick, I couldn't help but giggle at his face.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was you. And since when have you stopped me from saying fu-" Again he placed his hand on my mouth, I bit down again, not so hard though this time.

"You potty mouth! You're already cussing out random people! Please show some respect, just SOME to others… Please Lynx…" He asked me pleadingly, his eyes wide and watery.

"Puppy eyes don't work on me boy, and don't EVER TELL ME TO FUCKING RESPECT ANY FUCKING PERSON IN THIS WHOLE FUCKING WORLD!" He was scared, but he deserved it, he told me to RESPECT. I hate the whole concept of respect, I mean, the idea of having to 'bow' down to others, to listen to their views with COURTESY and understanding/acceptance. He knows this, but of course, he HAD to bring it up, now I was mad.

The man was now grinning an evil grin, or at least it looked evil to me.

"What're you grinning about fuck head?" Nick didn't even attempt to shut me up this time, he merely stood there glaring daggers at me.

"You have quite the mouth for a 13 year old, Lynx." He stressed my name, it sounded dirty in his mouth, I almost felt like washing his mouth out with soap so that my name would be removed from it.

"Oh just shut up!" I shouted at him, throwing myself onto him trying to tackle him to the ground.

This time I had caught him on unawares and he fell to the ground with a shocked face. I sat on his stomach in the same that I had sat on Nick's. Nick stopped glaring at me and started laughing at the picture.

"You know Lynx, you just tackled a ninja to the ground!" He was in on stuff that I knew nothing about, this wasn't fair.

"A WHAT NOW?" I asked, my face clearly saying, 'WTF are you talking about'.

"Well, a ninja is like a soldier over here. And this ninja here is a jounin, an elite ninja." Nick answered my question extremely simply.

"Gee thanks, soooo, your point? I've tackled a gay skater dude to the floor like this, ain't that the same thing?" I asked him, he knew I was talking about him.

"I AM NOT GAY YOU SPASTIC REDHEAD!" He shouted at me.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU STUPID BLONDE?" I screamed back.

"I CALLED YOU A SPASTIC REDHEAD, YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH IT?" I had jumped off the 'ninja' guy by now and he was sitting on my bed with an 'I'm mildly interested but I still don't give a shit about you' sorta look.

'OH YOU DITZY LITTLE BLONDE BOY! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" I rammed him with my full force, but he was stronger than me when he had warning.

Nick quickly picked me up and put me on his shoulders like they do in all them wrestling shows, then threw me onto the bed and body slammed me. The man jumped up, evidently startled.

"No! Nick! Don't do it! Please! I swear if you dare I will scream! I'm not joking! Nick! No!" I shouted as Nick's hands came closer to my stomach, he was going to tickle me, that was a weak spot that we both shared, but I couldn't let him get me, so I screamed. "RAPE! RAPE! SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE! RAPE! NOOO! GET OFF OF ME YOUR DIRTY RAPIST!"

Suddenly someone pushed Nick off of me and I let out a breath of relief and curled over shielding my stomach from any further attacks.

"Boy what did you do?" A harsh voice questioned an out of breath Nick.

"I-I didn't do anything!" He replied, choking on his laughter.

I took this chance to jump him, and quickly slammed him onto the floor tickling him with well-practiced hands.

"No! Please don't! I give! Have mercy!" Shrieking he tried to grab for his stomach.

"OK, you're free! I win!" I exclaimed happily.

I turned around to face my saviour, oh shit he looked mean. I opened my mouth then closed it, I was scared of this guy already. Gulp

"Uhh, sorry sir, it's just we were--- uhh…" I looked at him my eyes wide.

Eyebrows shooting up he looked at me quizzically. He had almond shaped brown eyes, and black eyebrows that shot right up into his headband/scarf thingy with the weird squiggly sign that our 'abductors' all had on. His face was thing and had two scars running diagonally across his face.

"We were just playing around and he wouldn't stop tickling me so I shouted rape to get someone to get him away from me." I looked down at my feet, why was this guy making me feel all ashamed?

Well it turned out, his name was Ibiki Morino and Ibiki spent a good quarter of an hour lecturing me, though after a while I sorta tuned out. Hey! What can I say, speeches and lectures bore me MAJORLY! Except sex ed. speeches, they're funny… hehe, I know, I'm extremely immature.

"Are you listening to me, girl?" Ibiki asked me.

"Of course sir," I said, putting on an innocent face, damn I was good.

"Very well." With that he walked off, I pulled a face at his back but he turned around about a millisecond after I had pulled my face back to normal and he scanned me for any signs of well, I don't know, but something.

Nick lapsed into a fit of laughter, and the man laughed silently along with us.

"Potty mouth, you see you got what you deserved in the end!" Nick choked out, tears forming at his eyes.

"Shut up you ditzy blonde." I retorted.

We stood, sorta silently, minus the laughter coming from Nick.

"Soooooo, dude aren't you going to tell me why you were in my room and not any other, decent, human being?" I asked the man. "Oh yeah, and what's your name, I keep on thinking of you as 'The evil one' or 'man' or 'dude'?"

"Chirou, and I was here because the Hokage thought it best that someone you were already, familiar with, woke you up." He said with a smirk.

I growled, then asked, "Where's Alexis?"

"Haha! Our little Lexi is out shopping for new clothes and exploring the town a little." Nick said with a chuckle.

"By herself? In this barbaric town? No way!? You've got to be crazy! How could you let her go!" I shouted at Nick, appalled.

"Barbaric? You're calling us barbaric? Huh, after your little display? You act like you're a caveman!" Chirou shouted indignantly.

I just snorted and turned back to Nick, "Why?"

"You know Alexis, I can't say no to her…"

"You know that's not true blondie, now spill!"

"Well, she's going with this one girl, and she begged me forever and I wanted to be here when you woke up!"

"Kiss ass," I murmured, but I'm a total sucker for kiss asses, "OK, OK."

Nick smiled widely.

"OK Chirou, you gonna get me some clothes?" I focused my attention on the now idle Chirou.

"Why me?" He joked, "OK, what do you need."

"1. Underclothes (YOu might want a girl to get them) 2. Shirt 3. Trousers (Jeans are the preferred option)." I told him, smiling widely at the thought that I was now ordering HIM around!

"Yes ma'am!" Oh my god, was he seriously joking around? Wow.

"So Nick, fill me in on the details of this place."

"OK, I guess I'll start from the fact that no one knows how on earth we got here, so next. OK, well in this world they don't have soldiers, or bombs, or guns, or anything like that, all they have is ninjas. Ninjas can use like technique and stuff, that's a bit like magic, but with like hand signs. Gaaah! I can't explain it that well! When you see it you'll understand. Oh, and do you want to become a ninja? I am, and so is Alexis, we think it's the best we can do right now, until we find out what's happening and all. OK?"

"Yeah, sure, it sounds cool anyways. And hey, I'm gonna need to kick Chirou's ass!" I replied grinning, then I gave Nick a detailed account of exactly how I was going to.

Nick laughed loudly with me but he quickly sobered up. I was confused, why wasn't he laughing? Then I felt it, a shadow looming over me. Oh shit, he's right behind me isn't he, I thought and slowly turned my head to look Chirou right in the eye.

"Haha, sorry about that Chirou…" I murmured nervously, tearing myself away from his gaze, seriously, I mean if looks could kill… Well I don't think I'd be here right now.

"What were you saying, Lynx?" He stressed my name, venom coating every letter. "Just kidding, don't worry!"

I breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief as we all started laughing. Chirou handed me my clothes, him and Nick walked back into the hallway and I changed quickly. 'Ohh! Cute!' I thought as I looked at my reflection, he had brought me a small black tank/spaghetti-strap and dark boot-cut jeans (yeah they're blue jeans, not black jeans). I was happy! This was like the best outfit ever! I know, a little overboard about jeans, but lately Alexis had been trying to get me to wear like light colours and capri's and skirts, and honestly, that's NOT my style, and she'd pretty much thrown out all of my _good _clothes!

When I walked out Nick and Chirou were in deep conversation, Nick smiled widely as he saw my clothes. He knew that they were my favourite colours. Chirou didn't take a second glance at me as the three of us headed out. After a while we started up conversation and continued talking like old friends all the way into town, it was pleasant I guess, nothing special, but pleasant. I found out that Chirou was a 'jounin', them elite ninja things ya know? And apparently he just passed though, and he's 17 as well… He's actually pretty cool, we get along well, he acts like a kid though!

"LYNX! NICK! YOU GUYS ARE HERE! ABOUT TIME!" Me and Nick turned, startled at the sudden outburst and turned around only to be glomped by a hyper Alexis. Yeah I know, a hyper Alexis? Scary… I shudder at the thought/sight.

"ALEXIS GET OFF OF ME!" I screamed at her, she stayed on top of us though.

"NO FRIGGIN WAY! ARE YOU OK LYNX? HOW BOUT YOU NICK? DIDJA HAVE FUN AT THE HOSPITAL?" She shouted the whole way through, just trying to annoy us, and trust me, it was working!.

"WE'RE FINE NOW COULD YOU PLEASE STOP FRIGGIN SHOUTING! Stupid fat ass." I added, she glared and stood up.

Chirou was trying to hold in his laughter, but wasn't succeeding all that well! Finally he gave in and was soon bent double laughing his ass of at us. He is E.V.I.L., E.V.I.L. I tell you!

"Just shut up Chirou, it wasn't THAT funny!" I snapped at him, at this Nick and Alexis lapsed into giggles, soon followed by full-out my-stomach-hurts-cuz-I'm-laughing-so-hard laughter.

"YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY! IT WASN'T EVEN FUNNY!" I screamed at them, they seemed to find this VERY funny.

I was on the brink of exploding, especially since all around us the villagers were watching with expressions of mild amusement. 'How come everyone else thinks this is funny? It is SO not funny! Gaaah!' I screamed inside my head, finally I just gave up and walked away.

It seemed no one noticed as Alexis and Nick were rolling around on the ground in laughter, and even Chirou had fallen over laughing. 'You people laugh WAY too much.' I kept on walking in the direction that we had been heading, the village was pretty. It was quite peaceful as well, little kids playing on the streets, mothers chatting at the corners and next to stores, and men walking around with drinks. It seemed picture perfect, but then I saw something that didn't quite fit the picture.

A boy with black, spiky, obviously gelled, hair was walking by with a good ten girls following him. I tried in vain to stifle a giggle, and the boy looked at me. He was pretty hot, but he had that I-hate-the-whole-world-and-you sorta look which totally turned me OFF! But the girls seemed to like it and they gazed at him with about the same adoration I might show Orlando Bloom, ya know, famous hotties!

I think the boy noticed that I was new and his eyes narrowed, dangerously close to slits and seemed almost intimidating until he relaxed back into his I-hate-the-whole-world look and turned away. I stuck my tongue out at his back, and just as I pulled it back in I heard a crunching noise behind me. The steps quickened, coming towards me, I turned around to be faced with a Chirou who with his arms stretched out and a wild grin plastered on his face. He grabbed my waist and pushed me on to the ground, then he sat on my stomach in the same fashion as I had.

Growling I glared up at him. "Get off me Chirou!"

"Haha! No way! This is payback! Next time you decide to plan out my murder, try to keep the conversation out of eavesdropping range!" He replied, laughing at me.

I scrunched up my nose and retorted, "Don't NINJA have anything better to do than beat up on little kids all day?"

"Nope!" By this time another crowd had gathered around, in it though was the O' Emo One (which was my new nickname for the black haired boy) and this seriously weird tall guy with this awesome gravity-defying gray hair! "Are you enjoying the show people?"

A loud burst of laughter came from the direction that Chirou had come from and Nick and Alexis stood there, not bothering to even try to contain their laughter. God, they're evil, they're my best friends and all they can do is stand there and laugh as I'm mercilessly tortured by a ninja dude! I pouted in annoyance. Chirou gave one last chuckle then got up off me, helping me up in the process. Slowly the crowd thinned except for O' Emo One, Gravity-head (the gray haired guy), a girl with bubble-gum pink hair (damn I loved her hair!), and a boy with a BRIGHT ORANGE JACKET! WTF is up with this guy? Bright orange? That really is scary…

Gravity-head seemed to notice my gaze resting on each of the four in turn and cleared his throat. I focused my attention back on him, wow, he was strange. I thought as I looked closer at his appearance, he wore a mask that reached up to his nose, and wore that weird headband thingy with the squiggle on top of it. I cocked my head to the side, confused. He looked sorta funny in a way, I just couldn't help it, he made me laugh. So I giggled quietly, but everyone seemed to notice, blushing and starting to giggle a little harder I put my hand to my mouth and looked next to me at Chirou who's eyebrows were raised slightly at me.

"Who're they? And who's gravity head over there, ya know the one with the funny costume?" I couldn't even hold it in at this point and I bent double, laughing at his 'costume'.

Chirou sounded more than just mildly amused when he replied, "Kakashi Hatake is one of the best ninjas in the village, and those happen to be his students; Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzamaki." O' Emo One, Pinky, and Orange kid!

"Okey dokey! Thank you!" I grinned and gave him two thumbs up, he looked at me startled, then grinned along with me.

"Chirou, who're they?" Orange kid, wait crap, I mean Naruto, asked.

"Don't be rude Naruto!" Pinky (Oh I LOVE pink! Third best colour in the world! Hehe!), Sakura, shouted at Naruto, slapping him upside the head.

Gravity-head shook his head slightly, a hint of a smile showing on his masked features. O' Emo One still had the same look on, except now it was mixed with curiosity. Hmm, they want to know who I am, why don't I tell them? Hehe, this should be fun!

"My name's Commander Pickles! And this is Commander Curlz and Boss!" I said, pointing to Alexis (Curlz) and Nick (Boss) in turn.

O' Emo One and Sakura looked plain old freaked out, but Naruto looked like he was having trouble understanding. Gravity-head on the other hand had arched his brows and looked at me strangely, it was hard to understand his looks when he hid most of his face.

"What?" I ask, feigning innocence.


	5. New Team

Nick shook his head, and said, "That's Lynx, I'm NIck, and that's Alexis. We're new here, and yes, she is insane, don't worry, it's nothing new!"

I glared daggers at Nick, but Alexis just laughed at his remark. Scratching his head, Naruto still seemed confused.

"But Chirou, why did you jump onto her? Is she like your girlfriend or something?" Naruto asked.

"Eww! No friggin way!" I screamed.

"Uhh, if you haven't noticed she's sorta thirteen!" Chirou exclaimed giving Naruto a 'You-are-THE-stupidest-person-I've-ever-met-it-was-totally-obvious-we-aren't-dating' look, but nevertheless I saw a him glance at me with a funny look.

"Well now you know us, what do you want?" Alexis asked, politely implying that she wanted an answer, RIGHT NOW.

"We were sent here by the Hokage, so Chirou which of these children are our next mission?" Gravity-head asked Chirou, nodding at me Chirou beckoned for me to come closer but kept Gravity-head back.

"Lynx, you will be studying with Kakashi, OK? Your friends will be assigned other teachers, and other guardians. I am to be looking after you, OK? So I'll meet you in around half an hour and take you to your new home. But first I'm gonna take Alexis and Nick to their teachers, who will also be their guardian. Don't worry, you'll see them later though! I promise!" He added at the end, noticing the flicker of fear that had crossed my face.

"OK, but I want to say good bye to them first." Nodding he went over to talk to Kakashi. "First things first, we're going to be separated and we probably won't see each other for a while…"

Nick looked at me, pain evident in his eyes, "We know, they already told us, and I have a feeling that it won't just be a day that we'll be separated for… I don't want to leave you guys, but we have to. If we don't do what they say who knows what will happen."

Alexis looked close to tears as she moved forwards and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"We haven't been apart for a long time Lynx. I love you, OK? YOu're my best friend, so promise that you'll see us the second you get the chance?" She choked out, it broke my heart seeing her like this.

"Of course Lexi, you'll never, ever have to worry about that OK? I love you too, and don't go getting yourself into any guy trouble!" I smiled reassuringly at her.

"Lynx, I love you Ok? And don't do anything with that Chirou, he seems to like you as more than a friend and now you'll be sharing a house with him! Just be careful though for me…" Nick held me tightly against his chest, he was like a big brother to me, and was always a little protective!

"I promise Nick! And I'll thank you very much! He's four years older than me! AND I'm only 13 as we've already pointed out!" I giggle slightly at this, "Love ya too Nick! and either way I'm still your special gal!"

Nick nudged me gently, then gave me one last squeeze and gestured for me to go over to Chirou and Gravity-head.

"Love ya peoples!" I shouted back at them, blowing kisses, and catching the ones that they sent back at me.

Chirou looked a little jealous, and I almost laughed, but remembered that I was not with my friends any more so it might seem a little weird. The four surveyed me, and I felt slightly uncomfortable, as if being x-rayed.

"OK, I guess I'll see you later then Lynx. And BEHAVE for Kakashi-sensei would you?" Chirou told me jokingly.

"Not making any promises!" I said, playing along.

Then Chirou did the unexpected and he pulled me into a brief hug, and told me not to worry and that my friends were in safe hands. I suddenly felt remorse for losing them… I loved them and now I wouldn't see them for who knows long. The three of us never separated, always together, never apart. It hurt too much. I mean, Alexis lived next door to me and Nick with her boyfriend Terry and she was almost always over at our house bunking or talking! This was gonna be hard, but maybe after a while they'd let us get back together after we've finished our teaching and we get like a job and earned the money for a little apartment for the three of us! But until then I guess we'd just have to bear with it, we couldn't be kids forever and this was a pretty harsh wake up call.

"Thanks Chirou, and I know, I just wish that they were in my hands, I could take care of them just fine…" I looked up at him and slowly let go of him.

Almost reluctantly he did the same and he waved to Gravity-head and me as he walked off. 'Wow, I never expected that!' I thought laughing to myself.

"OK, I already know you people, and you know me, now what?" I asked Gravity-head, earning a surprised look from him and his team.

He quickly regained his composure and replied, "We train, and I'll instruct you on the basics of being a ninja."

I nodded, catching up with them, and we all walked off.

"So, Sasuke-kun, do you want to go out after training?" Sakura/Pinky asked O' Emo One.

Looking totally uninterested he gave a barely audible no and turned back in front of him.

"So Sakura, do you wanna go out for ramen with me after training, you know, since Sasuke won't?" Naruto asked her hopefully.

"NO WAY NARUTO!" She screamed and punched him.

This girl was violent alright, but damn she gets over things fast! I thought as Sakura turned her attention back to O' Emo One.

"Gravity-head, does this sorta thing ALWAYS happen?" I asked Gravity-head.

He nodded his head, but didn't seem all that interested.

"Gravity-head, do you like O' Emo One as well? I've noticed you looking at him quite often, more than you look at the other two. I mean, I understand and all, he's sorta cute, but so is Orange kid, so how come you have a thing for the emo rather than the clown?" I was joking, but he seemed to take this as a serious offense, as he glared at me and told me rather too forcefully.

"I do not prefer any of my students, and I'm not gay, quite the opposite. And are you looking for fights? You've gotten into one with both of your friends and Chirou."

Grinning wildly just to annoy him, I said, "If you're not gay, then prove it. Kiss Pinky! And yes, thank you very much, you people is boring!"

"I'M NOT GOING TO KISS A STUDENT!" He shouted at me outraged, his students/my teammates looked at us curiously as I rolled on the ground laughing and Gravity-head giving me an angry lecture.

"So-so-sorry GRAVITY-HEAD!" I choke out in between laughs.

By this time Naruto had joined me on the ground and we were rolling around laughing and gasping out parts of sentences, usually having something to do with Gravity-head's face!

"Priceless!"

"Need-- a ca-camera!" Naruto shouted panting he was laughing so hard.

After a while we sobered up,, but kept lapsing into fits of giggles every time we looked at each other or Gravity-head.

"So, what do you think of the new girl Sasuke-kun?" Sakura seemed to like you, and was quite kind, but still thought it strange that you got along with Naruto.

"She's more of an idiot than Naruto." He mumbled.

Sakura scowled slightly at him, and I had a feeling that it was a first since he looked at her surprised. 'Well, now I have Sakura and Naruto on my side, I only have to win over two more, then I'm good! But then again, do I really want Gravity-head and his boyfriend, O' Emo One on my side? I don't NEED them, so I'll just focus on keeping Sakura and Naruto!' I thought to myself, I think that I it must have given me a far away look cuz Sakura snapped her fingers in front of my face and asked,

"You there Lynx? Thought you were like dead or something!"

I stuck my tongue out at the corner of my mouth and laughed slightly. She laughed along, but kept giving me curious glances the rest of the way to wherever we were going.

"These are the training grounds, Lynx." Sakura told me, gesturing to a large clearing with a large stone in the middle, and a surrounding forest.

"OK, now what do we do?" I asked, I honestly didn't know what any of this was about.

Ninjas that used sign language to do magic, and 'training grounds' to practice sign language? WTF is up with this place?


	6. Training

"We train." She said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which it was, but it didn't answer my question.

"No, I mean, what DO we train? Do we like just practice hand signs until we're tired or something?" Sakura giggle quietly.

"Ninjas don't just use techniques, we also have to train ourselves physically as well as mentally." She went on to explain to me chakra, jutsu, the use of shuriken and kunai, and pretty much all of that ninja stuff (this is where you Naruto fans gotta fill in the blanks, I don't feel like writing it all down).

"Okey dokey, then when do we start?" I asked, rather stupidly actually as Naruto and Sasuke were already practicing chakra control and such. "Never mind."

"I need to train as well, you might want to talk to Kakashi about what you're to do." I nodded as she walked over to join the guys.

"So, Gravity-head, what do I do? Aren't you like supposed to teach me?"

"Yes, I am." He replied simply.

"Are you going to?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Soon."

"Well would ya hurry up? Cuz you're already boring me! Please!" I pleaded with him, then I wielded the most dangerous weapon; puppy eyes.

"Fine, fine." He gave in, "I assume Sakura told you the basics about being a shinobi? OK, well then we'll start off with learning the hand signs."

After thirty minutes I had started to understand like, what, TWO of them? But hey, can you blame me? I wasn't exactly paying attention, it wasn't the most interesting topic, TRUST ME.

"Hey Lynx, how're you coming along?" I heard Chirou's voice come from behind me.

"Uhh, OK I guess… Hehe," I laughed nervously.

Kakashi shook his head at me, I was probably THE most trying student possible!

"Do you want me to take over her training for the day, Kakashi? You could train your other students." Chirou offered, Kakashi thanked Chirou profusely and almost ran off to join his other students. "Wow, you did a good job!"

"Thanks, I try!" I replied, grinning back at him.

"OK, I saw you were learning hand signs, well, trying to learn, OK, you were SUPPOSED to be learning!" I glared playfully at him, "Oh, sorry! What you weren't paying attention, it was sorta obvious!"

"Fine, but c'mon! Are you going to make this more interesting or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, just hold on a second." Chirou brought out a scroll, it had diagrams of all the hand signs, and what they mean.

He suddenly bit his thumb and it started bleeding, I had to put my hand over my mouth to stifle the scream that threatened to come out. He just BIT his finger to draw blood! He drew some strange sign thingies in the middle of the scroll with the blood from his thumb, made a hand sign and suddenly miniature animals appeared on top the diagrams. A dog, dragon, goat, horse, monkey, ox, pig, rabbit, rat, rooster, snake and tiger. It only took Chirou ten minutes to explain to me the basic idea of hand signs, and another 20 to get me to memorize all 10 that I hadn't earlier. Wow, he was a good teacher.

"Well done, you've got them!" Chirou smiled proudly at me, I grabbed him around the waist and said thank you to his chest as he was a good head taller than me.

"Your welcome, but why are you suddenly being nice to me?" He asked, slightly confused, but at the same time pleased.

"Don't worry, it won't last long, but you did just spend the past half hour teaching me about hand signs! And I finally have them down! You rock Chirou!" I took a step back from him, giving him some room to breathe!

"Aww, didn't expect it to! But your welcome, and you're easy to teach, so it really wasn't any trouble." I beamed at him nevertheless, he already seemed more like a friend than the evil person who threw me into the tree!

"So, does this mean we're going now?" I asked, maybe slightly too anxiously.

"Oh, I dunno, Kakashi might want you to get a head start on chakra control today!" He grinned maliciously.

"YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME WITH GRAVITY-HEAD WOULD YOU? OH MY GOD YOU WOULD!" I screamed at him. "NO I WON'T STAY HERE! NO TOO MUCH LEARNING! GAH! I JUST WANNA SLEEP! PLEASE!"

"Fine, but you are SO not going to sleep at 3 in the afternoon! Anyways, we need to get you some clothes."

"Thanks! Oy! Gravity-head! We're leaving! Goodbye!" I shouted at Gravity-head, hoping he'd just let me leave, no such luck.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gravity-head asked me.

"Away from here, anyways Chirou says I can go! Hmpf!" I pouted and cross my arms.

"Leaving Chirou? She still needs to learn some basic jutsu?" Gravity-head looked at Chirou, but Chirou seemed not to mind this, and not even a hint of guilt so much as flitted across his face.

"Kakashi, she needs to get clothes now, and anyways she can learn them tomorrow! And I'm her guardian after all, not you. Don't worry, it's not like I'm about to steal her away from all of your classes! Just this once!" Chirou told Kakashi.

sigh "OK, fine, but remember, no excuses tomorrow, and here at 7 A.M. well I guess I can't keep the rest of the team here. Training is over for the day, you're all free to go!" Gravity-head told us.

Naruto and Sakura came to walk with us.

"Hey Sakura, d'you wanna go shopping with me and Chirou? You can come to Naruto, if you want that is! Not sure that you'd want to come since I have to buy my WHOLE wardrobe! But yeah, what do ya think?" I asked Sakura and Naruto.

"Ohh! That sounds AWESOME Lynx! I know like THE best store ever! You'll love it!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

"Sounds like fun!" Naruto shouted.

Chirou rolled his eyes, "What have I gotten myself into?"


	7. Shopping

Sakura and I laughed at his remark. We walked for another 15 minutes until we reached the village centre. Sakura immediately ran to her fav store, me in tow. We glanced in the window, and spotted an AWESOME totally me outfit! All black, black shirt, black trousers, but hot pink paint splattered all over! I know it sounds lame, but the affect was great! The four of us kept on shopping for a good hour, even the guys seemed to be enjoying it! Yeah, that's weird… I know, but hey, aren't all guys weird? These one's are just weirdER than usual!

"Hey, I think I'm pretty much done, so… LET'S EAT!" I shouted happily.

Naruto grinned widely and said, "I know THE best place in town!"

So we ran after him, but damn this boy's fast when it comes to food! We ended up at a small place called, I think it was like Ichiraku? Something like that, anyways it just HAPPENED to be a ramen place!

"Naruto! What'll it be today? And who are these lovely young ladies with you? Is it a double date?" An old man asked us when we got to the bar.

My eyes widened and so did Sakura, and we screamed in unison, "HELL NO!" We lapsed into fits of laughter and Chirou joined us, but Naruto looked slightly hurt.

"Sorry Naruto, but, you know what we mean… It's not like we don't like you or anything, just not like that." I said sympathetically, biting my tongue to hold in the laughter that was threatening to burst.

"Oh, OK!" He said, happy again.

This boy was so confusing. One second he looks like he's about to cry, the next he has his hands right back behind his head in their usual cocky position. But there's something about him I like, I can tell already that this boy, he's someone worth having as an ally.

"Well, I'll have one with EVERYTHING old man!" Naruto shouted, damn, the old man's right there he doesn't have to scream.

But the old man didn't seem to mind, "And for you three?" He asked us.

I scanned the menu while Chirou and Sakura ordered.

"I guess I'll have the same as Naruto!" I grinned, hoping that it would be good.

When we got ours, Naruto glanced at me, as if wondering what I'd do, but I was already digging in! Sakura and Chirou stared at me, in complete shock as I finished my bowl in a good five seconds flat!

"How did you just do that Lynx?" She asked me, scared and shocked at the same time.

Belch "What can I say? It was really good! I couldn't help myself!" Sakura looked disgusted but Chirou and Naruto looked impressed.

"Impressive, for a girl!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Oh now it's on Naruto, you think you burp louder! JUST TRY ME!" It was true, I was the undefeated champion, he had made a mistake in underestimating me.

He belched, he wasn't half bad, but I was better. I burped even louder and longer. He looked at me, his eyes narrowed and belched again, this time louder and longer and hell it was one of the best. I had to do better, I stared at Naruto for a long second then let out what HAD to be THE LOUDEST BURP IN THE HISTORY OF ALL BELCHES!

Naruto looked at me, unshaken, that had been my best burp ever and he wasn't even worried about losing.

"That was nothing." He says slowly and deliberately, dramatically taking in a loud breath.

Then it came, a sound much like the roar of an elephant, only so close it almost hurt my ears. I was speechless, he had beaten me by a mile, and the thing is, I think that he could have done better than even that! This boy had some talent, I hope he doesn't throw it all away.

"Naruto, you-you-you win." I stutter, still completely astounded by the inhuman sound that had come from his mouth.

"I know!" He said pleased, and with that he dug into his ramen, I couldn't help but notice that his time was barely longer than mine.

"Seconds for me old man!" Naruto shouted.

"Me too!" I shouted, earning a furious glare from Naruto.

"You know, I just beat you, and I'll beat you again. You don't want to face off against me when it comes to ramen." Naruto told me.

"He's right Lynx, you should be careful. He can beat ANYONE! And you'll just end up with a massive stomach ache! Naruto always does. Please, don't even try!" Sakura pleaded with me, but I had already made up my mind.

"Bring.It.On."

The old man gave us another bowl, and another, and another. One by one we diminished the ramen, soon reaching an all time high of a good 13 each. I was getting full, but I could stuff some more down, I HAD to. I glanced up at Naruto and saw him stationary over his 13th bowl, he declined it and stared at me. I finished it off, and ordered one more just for affect. After that one was done, I smirked at Naruto and leaned back in my seat.

"Naruto, you got it?" I asked referring to the foot long bill that had been offered to him.

Naruto grudgingly accepted it and pulled out a large wad off bills offering them to the old man. We all stood up, Sakura openly gaping at me. Naruto walked off first, a cute pouty look on his face.

"Aww, I'm sowwy Naruto!" I say in a baby voice.

"I was going easy on you! I would've won if I had tried." I snorted loudly.

"Yeah right, just like I went easy on you in the belching contest!"

"Whatever. We're even." He said.

Sakura and Chirou were laughing their asses off as Naruto stalked off towards his house.

"I still can't believe YOU BEAT NARUTO!" Sakura exclaimed.

She was practically beaming though.

"You don't seem too mad?" I told her.

"No way! This was so funny! Anyways, I never thought it was possible to beat Naruto at eating ramen! But you…" Her voice faded when she saw a certain boy, walk down the street ahead of us. "Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Guess what just happened? Lynx beat Naruto at a ramen eating contest!"

The whole street seemed to be listening, and when they heard that their mouths all dropped. Was it really this big of a deal? But then again, where I'm from no one could ever beat me in any sort of eating contest, what can I say? I love food! Hehe. Sasuke looked at me strangely before looking back down at his feet and carrying on going wherever he was going.

"Sasuke-kun where are you going?" Sakura shouted after him desperately, running towards him.

"Well, I guess she's gonna wanna walk with Sasuke, so where's your house?" I asked Chirou.

"Not too far from here. Hey, Lynx, but can I ask you a question?" He replied, looking me straight in the eye.

This gesture was strange and sorta new to me, but I returned his gaze with my own.

"You just did," I smiled softly, "And yeah you can."

"Haha, very funny, but what's up between you, Alexis, and Nick? I was just wondering if you were family, you seem so close. And, another thing, Alexis and Nick were hinting at something, maybe not intentionally, but what happened in your past? I know it was something, but please tell me." I looked down, I was going to tell him, but the tears had been gathering and I didn't want anyone to see.

"OK, c'mon, I'm only gonna explain this once, so if there's anyone you think should hear this from me then you might want to get them right now." I told him, again placing my eyes in the hold of his.

"Yes, actually, I think the Hokage and your teacher deserve to hear this. I'll show you where my house is then I'll get them. It won't take long." Chirou said, we spent the last few minutes in silence, not meeting each other's eyes. "Here we are, home sweet home!"


	8. Memories

I looked up, the house was a two-story, rather large for one person… But it was so pretty, it was a pale blue colour just light enough to not be over-bearing but bright enough to see! He was a strange boy, one second he's teasing me, the next he's being all understanding, the next he's a ninja, all professional like. And he so sensitive as well… Why am I thinking about Chirou like this you might ask? Well, I do think these things, but I was quite honestly trying to keep my mind of three other amazing boys, who each meant the world to me…

I let my thoughts wonder finally, and they reached Naruto and Sasuke, oh how surprising? Haha, I know, it's predictable, I've already fallen for the teenage heartthrob, Sasuke, AND the craziest boy I've ever met! Hehe, but the picture of Naruto and Sasuke in my head clouded all other thoughts, they were so amazingly handsome, each in his own way. Jake was handsome like them… No, I can't think about him, I'm about to tell them what happened that day, and I'll HAVE to think about them. But you know, for now, I think I'll keep my mind on happier thoughts, keeping my thoughts in the PRESENT.

Let's sort out the feelings I have for them,

1) Sasuke, he's soooo handsome! And from what I hear he's really strong as well!

2)Naruto, sweet, clueless, crazy, hyper, PERFECT! He is, he's amazing, he looks like an orange, but I love that about him! He's not afraid of being him, he's all misunderstood, but he doesn't let it get to him! Yeah, he's DEFINITELY PERFECT!

3)Chirou, sweet guy, but the friend sort… And I'm quite sure he'd ever like a 13 year old, so we both win there!

4) Jake, first love, sweet, loud, my rival! But he never knew I cared, but we all have regrets… So he'll be my first regret, and hopefully my last…

That was sufficiently depressing, so I guess that's it. Oh shit, I forgot that we were about to go into his, no wait, OUR house! Moving!

Chirou opened the door dramatically, going into a low and sweeping bow.

"After you m'lady." I giggled and walked through the entrance into a small hall that opened into a kitchen on the left and a living area one the right and stairs right across the hall. Small but cozy!

"Oh! It looks like awesome Chirou! This is so cool! OMG do you have a TV?" I shouted in his ear.

Chirou put his hands over his ears and playfully scowled at me, "I'm right here you know, you don't HAVE TO SHOUT IN MY EAR!"

"Ouch, that hurt Chirou." I pouted, using puppy eyes.

Chirou sighed as he apologized.

"OK I'm sorry." He stuck his tongue out at me before continuing, "Your room is the first room on the right, mine is right across the hall from yours and the bathroom is at the end of the corridor. I'm going to go get the Hokage and Kakashi, so get ready to talk!"

I smiled, it was fake, but he didn't notice. I wasn't ready to talk about this, but it was either now or never, I'd never have the guts to do it again. So, I'd just plunge in and hope it doesn't hurt too bad. I took a deep breath, reassuring myself. Why was I scared anyways? They were just words, just letters strung together with punctuation at the end and in the middle. What I should be afraid of is anything happening to Alexis or Nick. My best friends, my vulnerable little sister, I was her guardian angel and the protective older brother who couldn't grasp the fact that I was the same age as him and could take care of myself. They were amazing, caring, and sweet, always by my side, ever since the beginning.

I don't think they told them the beginning, so I guess I'd get stuck telling the whole thing. Starting with running away, and ending with right here, right now. Alexis and Nick must have told them we were orphans who lived by ourselves, you can hardly miss that out, but there were so many blank spots to fill, and one of me, one of me who's got one heart that just happens to be breaking at the thought of retelling it all.

My thoughts ran around for a while as I sat in the room that was now mine, I couldn't figure anything out. It seemed like every time I thought I'd figured something out, something else came up and ruled the last one out. I couldn't take it, but there wasn't much to do here, so I had to keep thinking.

I felt like I was drowning, I couldn't go anywhere else in my mind, I was surrounded by the nightmare that haunts my past and it was pulling me in deeper and deeper. I wanted to scream, even though I knew that couldn't help, but I wanted it all to stop, the memories, the thoughts, the ideas, the pain, the regret, everything, and for the first time in so long I felt myself breaking down. I couldn't run from it any more, it was finally taking it's toll, at completely the wrong time, but it had to happen one day.

I sobbed, lightly at first, then harder, letting my pride fall with the tears that were now falling torrents. I slammed my fist into the bed again, and again, and again, until I was numb from trying to hit it.

I felt someone hold me to their chest, and whisper calming words, but I couldn't hear them, or feel them. I was alone, I had been for so long, but now it hit me that it was completely true, I couldn't open up, I had spent so much energy trying to be strong that I lost all the strength to be strong. A weak girl with no one else, the one who no one ever thinks would break down, but the one who ends up broken.

Slowly I pulled myself back from reality and looked at the person who had me in their arms. I didn't know him yet, his face was aged and he looked strong, but nevertheless I saw kindness on his face, he was comforting. I buried my face in the man's chest and let the sobs subside until they had died out completely.

"Thank you," I whispered into his chest.

He only smiled at me. Gently he stood up and helped me up. I was slightly embarrassed as I saw Kakashi and Chirou standing behind him, the looked worried, but they had seen me cry. My best friends hadn't seen me cry for years, but here they were, almost strangers really, and they had watched me cry all of my pride, my defenses, my hurt, everything that I had held inside for so long.

I felt like crying again, but I knew I couldn't. They were here for a reason, and they had to hear the story now while I felt like talking, like crying, like breaking down.

"Chirou, where are we going to do this?" I asked him, blinking away more tears.

"In the living room," He said, when we all went towards the door he held me back, "Are you sure you're OK? What happened? You know, if you don't want to do this it's fine."

"I'm fine, really, and everyone needs to let off some steam, every once in a while. And today I just cried a little. You don't have to worry about me, I'm serious." I reassured hi, ushering Chirou through the door and down towards the living area.

When we got in, the man and Kakashi were sitting patiently on the couch, talking quietly to each other. Their conversation stopped the second they noticed us. Kakashi motioned for Chirou to talk to him quickly, and I sat down keeping my head down but my ears sharp.

"Just… Leave… No… We can't…" That was pretty much all of what I could hear, I was confused though either way, why would they be talking about leaving? What can't they do? What was he refusing to? For god's sake people, can't you just come right out and tell me?!

"Are you ready to start, Lynx?" The man asked me, he sounded almost like a father to me, he sounded like he actually cared.

"Yes," I replied finally, I took a deep breath and began. "I'll start from the beginning, my name is Lynx Sapient Swindlehurst, I was born to Torina and Channer Swindlehurst. I'm an orphan, as you should already know, because my father died sometime before I was born and my mother died in childbirth. I was sent to an orphanage, I can't even remember the name any more it's been so long. There I met Nick, Em, and Jake. The four of us became friends right off the bat, and soon became inseparable.

"Alexis and Terry didn't go to the same orphanage as us, but by the time they were seven they'd had enough of their old one and ran away hoping to stay free. Soon though; they were found and sent to ours. At first we ignored them, but let them in when they started to open up. At age eight the six of us were known almost as one person, well, actually that isn't quite true. Alexis fit right in with us, but Terry has always been a little distant with the rest of us, so really it was just us five.

"On my ninth birthday we were tired of being stuck in this stupid orphanage, and promised each other we'd leave; and we did. Once Em, the youngest of us, turned nine we left. We packed the necessaries and got up and walked away. It took is exactly one week, and three days to make it to a new place. It was a pretty town, rather secluded and was situated in the country area. The people there didn't know us, so they thought we were just brothers and sisters who's parents didn't like to come out much. We liked it like that, and we've lived there ever since.

"I've told you a little about us, but the only real important thing that needs to come out will be a little more difficult to explain. It was my 13th birthday, we were celebrating. We decided to go out for once. In the end Em and Alexis thought up the idea of going out into the forest, it was pretty damn amazing. It was night, but we weren't afraid, the forest was like our second home, we ate there, slept there sometimes, did homework there, and celebrated most holidays and birthdays there.

"The night we went out was especially dark, Em, Alexis, and I loved the dark, but the guys didn't like the feel of it. They were suspicious, but we never trusted them, they were always wrong anyways. We walked out into the clearing that we call the Clubhouse and started the fire as usual. We all sat around chatting, playing games, it was the night that Terry and Alexis got together as well. Even though they were young, the two of them had been together through so much that it had to happen that they admitted their feelings towards the other.

"We started up truth or dare, it was always fun, the best game out there in our opinion. First up was Em, Jake dared her to run into the forest and scream 'I'm an idiot!' Five times, no this wasn't our best, but we liked to start off small. Em ran out into the darkness and started screaming, the first two times we laughed, but on the third she didn't scream 'I'm an idiot!' She screamed bloody murder at the top of her lungs. Jake was the first to run in, Nick and I close behind him. When we got there we saw a man, he had to be in his early 20s to late teens, but he was still a whole lot stronger than Em.

"Em was pinned up against the tree as the man touched her and attempted to strip her. Jake and Nick ran up behind him and started wildly kicking at him. Jake kicked him in the crotch and Nick punched in his stomach in. I helped Em down, and tried to get her to safety. She was shaking madly. Nick and Jake thought they had done there job, and walked off, pleased, but the man wasn't finished. He ran at Jake with full force, and as he ran he pulled out a knife, a small one, but it was sharp nonetheless. It stabbed him in his stomach and blood and guts spilled over the floor. Em and I ran to help him, Nick attacking the man. But he knocked Nick out quickly. I stood in front of Em and Jake, hoping that maybe I could defend them. But it was futile, he wanted to finish his work with Em.

"I was knocked out and woke up to a sobbing Nick, Terry, and Alexis all kneeled by the bodies of Jake and Em, all looking broken. I stared at them a while then noticed a thin line of dried blood that came down Em's leg, and her ripped skirt and shirt. He had not only taken her life but her virginity as well. Jake must have died slowly because his stomach wound still had wet blood on it and his guts were piling a little bit. The rest was a blur, we took them to the police, they didn't ask us any questions about parents or anything. They knew that we were runaways, but took pity on us.

"The man who had raped and murdered my best friend and killed another was found. He has life in prison, I hope he's still rotting in there. Maybe he's dead. I don't know much else about it. But that's all it is. The death of our best friends. Sorry Nick and Alexis didn't tell you, they would never be able to, they can't even bare to think about it, and they both despised the orphanage to the point of erasing it form their memory altogether so I might be the only one of us who has is stupid enough to want, or try, to remember this." I choked out the last part, tears threatening to fall again.

I looked at the three men, Chirou had tears in his eyes and looked like he wanted to hug me right then and there. Kakashi had his head bowed, and the man looked at me with sad eyes. Chirou stood up and pulled me up with him. I stood next to him, behind my back he clasped my hand squeezing it comfortingly. It wasn't much of anything that would affect them, but if these men were supposed to know about us, they might as well know the most important part of our past.

I bit my lip slightly at the thought of Jake's laughing face and Em's scowling one as she ran up into the darkness. It bought happy tears to my eyes, and I felt my lip twitch slightly. But the image of the man using his knees to separate Em's legs and the scream that her and Jake had uttered when they had been struck. It would stay in my mind forever, I was sure of that. The whole ordeal wasn't right, neither of them deserved it, Em was only 12 as well. And Jake, I never had a chance to tell him I liked him. I never told anyone. I sighed quietly.

"Thank you Lynx, but we shall leave now, we don't want to overstay our welcome." The man said to us (Chirou and me) softly.

I forced a smile as they left the house.

"I'm sorry Chirou, I'm so sorry I broke down." I said to Chirou, hugging him again.

"Are you sure you're OK Lynx? And it doesn't matter, but what does matter is why, why did you? I'm sorry to have to put you through this. I really am, Lynx look at me." I looked him right in the eye, he didn't look startled but merely returned my gaze. "Everyone has to cry whether you're strong or not."

I looked into his eyes, he was such a good friend, and I barely knew him.

"Thanks Chirou."


	9. Flirting

"No prob, but hey, you might wanna get some sleep, tomorrow is another day of training and you start at 7 AM, OK? I'll wake you up if you need." My eyes went wide, waking up?

"Doesn't that mean I have to wake up at like 6? AM?" I asked, scared as hell, I HATE HATE HATE HATE getting up!

"Yes, it does! That means you have to be ready by quarter to 7 as well. OK? I'll wake you up, but if you don't wake up, I'll take desperate measures." Chirou smirked evilly, I DID NOT want to find out what desperate measures he'd take.

I nodded and ran up the stairs to my room. My room was quite pretty really, it was actually black with dark red trim. They were some dramatic colours! But they looked amazing, really amazing! I walked over to my bed, it was a black again, but the pillows the same deep red as the trim. I sat on the bed, taking in the whole room, the simple furniture, the large window, hold up. That wasn't a window, I walked over to it. I saw a black handle poking out from beneath the curtains.

I pushed gently on the handle, what lay on the other side took my breath away. It was a beautiful balcony, it looked out over the street and the half moon that hung high in the sky beneath light grey clouds. It was pretty amazing. The street itself was lit by the dim glow of lamps from inside and the bright glow of the shops that were still open. A whisper of voices from the street told me that sleep would never truly come across this small village. It reminded me of our old town. Except that after ten most lights were off and it was just the three of us…

I glanced down once again to see a stationary Sasuke leaning against the wall of a closed shop. He was in shadow, he must like it that way, little emo kid. I decided to join him, though I didn't know anything about chakra control or walking up and down walls I was good at climbing and quickly scaled the wall a couple meters then jumped off. Making no noise I quickened my footsteps until I was right next to Sasuke. I couldn't help but blush when I looked at him, but I quickly got over it and decided to talk.

"Hey! What's up O' Emo One?" I asked him loudly, and close to his ear as I could get before I was touching it.

He jumped away, and rubbed his ear.

"Don't shout in my ear." He mumbled, sending me a death glare.

I just grinned and stuck out my tongue.

"Do you always come out here at night?" I asked him, cocking my head to the side.

"Sometimes, it's PEACEFUL! Or at least it was." He narrowed his eyes at me again.

I chuckled lightly at him this time. Damn, he's so easy to get to? Hmm… I wonder how long it'll take for him to explode? LET'S SEE!

"So, are you and Naruto, you know," I lowered my voice dramatically, "Together?"

Most guys either sent death glares at me or ignored the gay comments I made. But I loved it when they reacted like Sasuke! So entertaining!

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME GAY? WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH YOU? EVEN IF I WAS GAY I WOULD NEVER EVER DATE NARUTO! NOT EVEN IN MY WORST NIGHTMARES!" Sasuke shouted, his voice full of disgust and a slight, haha, slight, yeah right, twinge of dislike.

I was roaring with laughter at his outburst! I had just pushed THE Sasuke Uchiha's buttons to the point where he had nearly murdered me on the spot. But damn, this boy was WAY too easy! But then again I loved the speed of it, a lot of times I had to work pretty hard to really annoy anyone, but Sasuke? Well Sasuke was, as I said, WAY too easy!

"Say whatever you want Sasuke, you'll NEVER convince me otherwise!" That wasn't really true, honestly I was sorta hoping, for, you know in the back of my mind, that he'd try to prove he wasn't gay. You know how… Hehe.

Much to my disappointment he just glared at me. I rolled my eyes and poked him.

"Poke." He merely grunted in reply. "Pokey pokey!"

His glare seemed to burn into my skull. He stared angrily at the finger I had poked him with. He cracked me up.

"Pokey, pokey, pokey pokey-pokey-pokey-pokey-pokey-pokey-pokey-pokey-pokey!" I shouted, poking him faster.

A light came on in my/Chirou's house and I saw a figure come towards.

"Oh shit, he's gonna kill me!" I murmured.

I heard a small chuckle and turned to see a smirking Sasuke. WTF? Did O' Emo One just laugh? OMG! It's a miracle! I was so shocked that I hadn't noticed there was a person behind me until they cleared their throat rather loudly. I turned around slowly, afraid that I would get a lecture on my sleeping habits, as if it wasn't enough that Nick had to force me to sleep every night back home!

"Hello Lynx." Chirou said with an evil look on his face.

I bit my lip and murmured out a response. I heard another chuckle, Sasuke.

"What're you laughing at O' Emo One?!" I shouted at him.

He just smirked.

"Stop smirking!" I shouted again.

More lights came on, and people leaned out of their doorways to tell me to shut up.

"Whatever! I'm not shouting any more! Happy?" I shouted at the annoyed villagers. "Anyways, it was his fault."

I pointed to Sasuke, his smirk disappeared and in its place was a death glare that would have scared me if I hadn't been so intent on sending him my own death glare.

"Sasuke, I need to talk to you, Lynx, inside, bed, now." Chirou told us sternly.

I had a feeling that Sasuke would be getting a talk that didn't have anything to do with shouting too loud. Oh shit, he thought that me and Sasuke… No way, even if I wanted that, it would honestly never happen.

"Chirou, you don't think that me and Sasuke… Look, I'm serious, we aren't… You know, so, don't get all over protective, cuz I'm not joking when I say we are BARELY even friends, more like acquaintances. Trust me, we ARE NOT what you think we are." I couldn't say it, it just sounded wrong!

He was cute, and if he asked me out I'd say yes in a second, but somehow even saying that we were dating, or admitting the possibility out loud seemed wrong. Chirou didn't look convinced, and raised his eyebrows at me.

"Bed now, you need your sleep." I scowled at him, then made my way over to the wall.

Quickly scaling it I reached the balcony and made a slamming noise. Though I stayed outside, I HAD to hear what he was going to say to Sasuke, what? It's funny! What, are you telling me you don't like seeing someone who you barely know act like your father or older brother? It's great, I mean he's already over-protective over me! Hehe, but then again it sorta sucks. Every time I met a guy, he always treated my like his little sister and was over-protective. But he never cared about me in that way. I liked Chirou as a brother, but it was always Alexis who was treated like a girlfriend or crush would be. Life sucks being me, sorta… Hey, I feel like complaining right now, so shut up stupid conscience!

Yes, I did have a conscience, but I almost never listened to it. But right now it was shouting pretty damn loud at me to stop complaining and not be jealous and self-centered, honestly though, I liked being a little self-centered in my head. It was easier, I never said anything out loud though, so I think I have some right to be jealous and think self-centered thoughts! Actually, I have EVERY right!

"What were you two doing out here?" Chirou's voice awoke me from my thoughts.

"/I/ was just relaxing when SOMEONE," He looked right at me when he said this, drawing Chirou's attention to my balcony, "Decided she wanted to annoy me."

Chirou looked back at him and said something to him, his voice barely more than a whisper, Sasuke kept his reaction to a minimal so that I couldn't hear or see anything again. This is so annoying, what is up with them? I was annoying him, that's it! Nothing more! God, people here are way to serious about these things. But then again, remember when I hung out with that one kid a couple months back and Nick pounced on him? And remember how afraid he was, Nick that is, of me getting hurt? He didn't want anything bad to happen, and it ended up that Chris was just hanging out with me to get closer to Alexis anyways. Why do people even try to protect me? They should be out protecting Alexis, she's the one all the guys want, the good boys, the bad boys, the geeks, the skater dudes, she's perfect, I'm not. She needs someone to protect her, I've always had Nick and Jake. But then again, there's Terry, if a guy so much as winks in her direction he's all over them. It's always been like that, I wonder who's gonna protect my lil gal now? I know I'm calling her my lil gal, but she's like my sister, as I've already told you.

I've always been there for her, I've protected her from as much as I could, as Nick did for me. And I've always stayed strong, for everyone around me. Alexis has had everyone there for her, and so do I, I don't think there's anything we can really complain about. Another part of me argued, it was right, but it sucked nonetheless.

I held my knees to my chest, and listened to the silence that had come. A sudden 'swish'-ing noise, I guess you could call it, and Chirou was standing next to me.

"What did you say to him? I wasn't joking when I said we were just talking." I told him.

"I know, but I don't want you getting mixed up with him. A lot of the girls might think he's great, but there's something I don't like about him. And don't worry, most of it didn't have much to do with you. OK?" I looked at him skeptically.

"Most?"

"Most, but that will have to wait. Good night Lynx." He said firmly, standing still.

I sighed, rather loudly, and stood up. I walked into my room, he followed and stood there until I sat on my bed. Then he came and sat next to me.

"Look, I'm only doing this because I know you're going through a hard time."

I wanted to scream at him, tell him that I wasn't going through it NOW. That I'd been going through it my whole life, and he wasn't helping at all. Then tell him to go away, that I could deal with this all by myself. But I didn't, I just sat there, not saying anything. I hoped he'd get the message, LEAVE, but he didn't seem to.

"The talk had nothing to do with you, OK? I just said that at the beginning, Sasuke Uchiha is hard to get by himself, and I needed to talk to him. About more pressing matters than whether he's hitting on you," He sounded slightly angry here, I couldn't help but feel the anger build up a little inside. "Good night Lynx."

"Night Chirou." I smiled slightly, but I was immensely curious as to what they were talking about.

It HAD to be serious, Chirou didn't look angry exactly, just, serious. And Sasuke, well Sasuke was Sasuke, he was as emotionless as before I talked to him. That is my conclusion! I laughed out loud. Maybe men were strange and perverted creatures who should be worshipping the ground that anyone of the female species walked on, or so much as glanced at, but I was an insane sexist creature! I mused silently.

I guess I SHOULD be getting some sleep… I sighed and curled up into a ball next to my pillow. I faded quicker than I thought and within almost seconds I was asleep.


	10. Annoying Sasuke

"WAKE UP! YOU'VE GOT PRACTICE!" A sickeningly happy voice shouted from somewhere near me.

I opened my eyes groggily, but quickly closed them at the feeling of light all around me. The black walls helped, but the light from the window was still painfully bright.

"I just noticed, your hair's the same colour as the trim! You match this room perfectly, wow." Chirou mused at loud.

"Gee, and I want to be told this at this disgustingly early time why?" I asked him, ever word dripping in venom.

"Is that any way to thank the person who woke you up for your first REAL training session?" Chirou asked me, pretending to be taken aback.

"What time is it?" I asked him, paying no heed to his 'incessant chatter', as Em would call it, even though it was me usually doing the 'incessant chatter'.

I felt a slight pang, but only very slight. Though it had only been a few months, memories like this made me smile, thinking of the 'good old times'. Chirou noticed this, and must have been under the impression that I was awake as he left my room smiling lightly. Evil little boy, I thought to myself. Little? Is he really that little? OMG I was talking to myself! OMG I have must have that multiple personalities thing! Gah, leave all the thinking for later.

Hmm, I wonder what I should wear this morning? I shuffled through my small closet. I ended up picking out some shorts and a baggy tee that was made shorter with a black hair band. Might as well be comfortable, right?

I raced myself down the stairs and, oh how unsurprisingly, I tripped over some invisible/non-existant object and fell flat on my ass. Yup, my day has started off great! Yes that's sarcasm, and why am I talking to you? Why am I explaining this to a piece of friggin paper? You do nothing for me paper and pen! In the back of my mind I guess I know I'm really trying to get it all sorted out for myself, but it still feels weird talking to paper and using a pen to translate my words and memories into something easier to understand. Again, too much thinking!

Oh, fuck this, let's just get on with the story.

"Haha! Nice landing!" Chirou stood, pointing at me and laughing rather loudly at me.

"Shut up!" I replied venomously, but I couldn't help it. He made me laugh.

We laughed together for a couple minutes, when Chirou decided to help me up.

"Thanks." I mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." Chirou smiled innocently at me, his eyes showing all his evilness.

Sticking out my tongue in reply I walked into the kitchen, grabbed an apple, stuffed it in my mouth, gave Chirou a hug then headed towards the door.

"You're already going? Kakashi is ALWAYS late you know, you might as well wait fifteen minutes or something." Chirou said, he was sitting on the armchair in the living area, a smug look on his face.

What an ass! Gah! How could he do that? Does he even know how much pain this has caused me? Just kidding, but still, he is so amazingly annoying, and I've only known him for a day!

I growled in annoyance and made my way over to the armchair and plopped down in it ungracefully. He looked at me, a goofy grin plastered to his face. I glared back and not once took my eyes off his evil ones. The grandfather clock ticked slowly and painfully, every second passing was killing me. He was annoying, almost as annoying as me, AND to make it better, he didn't seem at all annoyed by me, or even phased at my unrelenting glare.

"You can go now." Chirou said, that stupid grin still on his face, you know, he's amazingly immature for a 17 year old. Having a staring contest with a 13 year old?

"See ya!" I broke out of my thoughts and let the same goofy grin he was wearing spread widely across my face.

Chirou seemed slightly startled, but recovered quickly and stood up and in one fluid motion he was walking me towards the door. How he was so fast and graceful I might never know, but he was pretty damn smooth. Not like that you sick minded people! No, I meant the motions he used, he was more graceful than even Em's were. Was it being part of a ninja? Sakura said you had to be fast and stealthy, so being able to use fluid movements and carry out actions within seconds were probably part of their training. Oh! MY training as well now!

I smirked at my last thought. I was going to be a ninja, I was going to fight, I was going to be different. Sure, I stood out, but I've never had any honest-to-god REAL talent that I could stand out for for a GOOD reason… Yes, I am quite apt at most things (I'm not talking about school here people!), but never GREAT, and what sucks is the fact that I'm only known for being the kid with a sharp tongue and the class clown when I feel like it. But now, now I would prove something to them, especially Alexis and Nick, because even though I love them to death and them I, they don't have that high expectations for me. Even Nick doesn't…

"What are you smiling about?" Chirou asked me suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing," I giggled slightly, just for affect.

"O-kay, well, if you want you can go out with your friends for dinner, I'm not much of a cook. So, it might be a good idea." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Fine with me, I can't cook either, it sucks." Chirou laughed at this.

Stretching I strolled onto the street. Everyone was up and about, but I noticed something today that I didn't yesterday. This village was a mess. People on the streets were handing up bricks to others on ladders who were placing them carefully on top of already-mortared brick. Children were running around with scrolls and tools to help the adults, and even ninja seemed to be helping (well, I THINK they're ninja, but I'm still new here, so don't blame me if I'm wrong), running at light speed with tools and various other instruments to fix buildings, and even some of the walls that I hadn't even noticed yesterday! I wonder what could have done this? It looks like a bomb, but they don't have bombs here, hmm, I wonder.

An obnoxious ringing noise entered my thoughts. Yup, you guessed it, a beautiful melodious sound, Naruto's voice. I sighed in contentment, hoping he didn't hear.

"Hi Lynx!" He shouted into my ear happily.

I felt like killing him all of a sudden, the joys of being a 'morning person', OK, NOT being a morning person! My head suddenly throbbed and my mind was screaming, 'Kick his ass Lynx! Show that boy NOT to mess with you!' I was about to slap him upside the head, like Sakura had yesterday, but someone beat me to it. Yup, Sakura!

"Don't shout in her ear idiot!" She shouted, coming around and walking next to me.

"Thanks Sakura, so what's up?" Cheerfully, yeah, I know, mood-swings, I get them in the morning, and also well, I'm a teenage girl, I get them ALL the time!

"Not much, except this stupid head here," She motioned to Naruto, who stuck his tongue back out in reply to it, "Waking up the whole village!"

I giggled, and Naruto grinned sheepishly. I LOVE THESE GUYS! Sorry, random, I know, but I just do! They're awesome, and they joke around, but I know they really do care for each other. Even if only very, very, VERY, VERY (you get the point!) deep down.

"What about you Naruto? And why the freak is everyone up so early? Where I'm from NO ONE wakes up before AT LEAST 8, and most people aren't out and about till, like, noon." I asked, scrunching up my nose in disgust.

"Not much, and I don't know. Haha, yeah, but most people just get used to the morning starting now, I guess." He scratched the back of his neck again while I stared at them all in a mix of admiration and disgust.

"It's not really that early, you know, Lynx. It is quarter past 7, and the sun rose HOURS AGO!" Sakura stated, matter-of-factly.

I gaped at her. The sun rise? That's crazy, to think people should be up by the time the sun rises! Well, that's what she was implying. But god, dawn? Up at dawn? Wowzas.

"What? You don't get up that early where you're from?" Sakura asked in wonder.

"Well duh we don't! NO ONE wakes up AT DAWN! For god's sake YOU PEOPLE ARE ALL CRAZY!" I shouted, successfully gaining the attention of most of the villagers!

By this time Naruto was rolling on the floor laughing, and Sakura was in fits of laughter which she was trying, in vain, to stifle. And the villagers? They were looking at ME like I was crazy! I growled at the crowd in warning. More laughter came as a result to my futile attempt at getting people to back off. So I just settled with giving them all death glares. And, after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto and Sakura sobered up and we continued our walk to training. The silence that had fallen upon us only broken by the death glares I was sending my evil companions, though, it seemed almost as if they didn't noticed as they continued with expressions of HIGH amusement.

"You're late." Sasuke remarked dryly as we walked onto the bridge.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted and ran over to stand next to Sasuke.

Naruto and I exchanged glances. Some things never change. We sighed at the same time and giggled slightly together. Damn, I loved his laugh. It was cute, just like a little kid's but there was just something about it that was… Perfect. Innocent, but still it seemed like it came from someone older. Someone had seen too much in his short life, yes, it did. But his laugh was always true, how on earth can someone have such a truly happy and contented laugh when you could tell he'd been through a whole lot of shit. I honestly don't know, but I hope it never changes.

I looked over at Sasuke, whose eyebrows where raised in silent question. I grinned and ran over to him. Look, if I'm gonna annoy him I might as well start now, right? He's just too much fun! I threw my arms around him.

"Sasuuuke! I missed you!" Oh my god, his face, priceless!

"Wha-what?" He stuttered, he honestly looked scared.

"Did I miss something?" Naruto asked, scratching his neck.

Sakura, though, seemed to know what was going on and was shaking with laughter. She must have seen the evil glint in my eyes right before I charged. I was hoping Naruto would get it too, but oh well, this is Naruto we're talking about. Hold up, another two people's laughter sounded loudly. Chirou's, and Kakashi's. Sasuke was now trying desperately to get out of my grasp. Damn, this was WAY too funny!

Naruto seemed to get it and he was now laughing uproariously and, yes, dare I say it? He and Sakura were leaning on to EACH OTHER for support! They actually seemed like friends. Aww! OK, enough aww-ing, back to the task at hand. ANNOYING SASUKE!

"Sasuke? What's wrong? Why are you scared?" I asked him innocently, throwing in a well-placed sniffle.

He looked down at me, fear and concern etching deep lines into his handsome features. Hehe, did I just think that? Handsome features, you know, it actually suits. He is amazingly handsome, and that just sounds almost romantic, if you minus the fear part. Haha! As suddenly as the fear had come, it disappeared, replaced by anger and annoyance. Ah, so he's figured out what I'm playing at ha?

"Get off me Lynx." He replied coolly.

"Sorry Sasuke, I can't bug you over there, it's easier over here." I said, dropping the innocent act, and just plain old clinging to him now.

"I'll only ask you once more before I FORCE you to get off. Understand?" The death glare he sent with it would have scared any sane person, but thankfully enough for me, I'm NOT sane.

"Try me." I held on tighter, waiting for whatever he was going to throw at me.

Damn, was he going to do anything?

"What the fuck is up with you today?!" He suddenly shouted, I opened my eyes and saw Sakura clinging onto his other arm and Naruto sitting on the floor clinging on to his leg.

Chirou and Kakashi must be having a real show! I thought to myself, and allowed a giggle to pass my lips. Sasuke just glared at us.

"Kakashi, aren't you going to do ANYTHING?" He asked, finally.

"I guess I must," Kakashi sighed loudly, "Come on, we have to train, other wise I'll keep you late. Now hurry up."

Sasuke started to walk, dragging us all along with him. Slowly but surely his anger built up more, and more and more and more, until…

"JUST GET THE FUCK OFF ME ALREADY!" Ouch, my poor eardrums!

I pouted but clung tighter to him. Sakura just grinned and buried her face in his arm. Naruto, though, laughed. OK, not laughed, he would have been rolling on the floor laughing had he not been pounding on Sasuke's leg panting from his laughter. He was in fits.

So, finally, Kakashi pulled Naruto and Sakura off, Naruto still laughing and Sakura now pouting. Chirou came to pull me off, but I just glared at him and he backed off. So hence started the battle of wills between us, the closest I'd ever get to him, haha, I know I shouldn't be thinking about that right now but staring into his eyes isn't helping any. It was all I could do NOT to kiss him! So, on from those awkward thoughts that had plagued my mind all that time ago.

And who shall win this epic battle of wills? Shall it be Lynx Torina Swindlehurst, from Fetherston, the insane one. Or will it be Sasuke Uchiha, teenage emo hearth throb? Find out after the break! Just joking. We just stared for a while longer, yeah I know, staring, not glaring, glaring is honestly quite tiring. Soon the novelty of those beautiful coals for eyes wore off and I stared blankly into them, but apparently my gray eyes were of /some/ interest because Sasuke still stared at them, now without the glare, in honest interest, no boredom registering on his face, or in his eyes.

Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face, startling me half out of my senses. What the fuck? I thought he was like mad or something? Weren't we fighting just now? I looked at Chirou not understanding, dammit, big mistake. I turned back around and there was a grinning Sasuke, then it registered, he had just won, I had looked away.

"Humph." I pouted, let go, then folded my arms.

"I win." He stated simply, his smug face just begging for someone to smash it in.

Suddenly MORE laughter erupted from around us, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi and Chirou, all laughing their asses off. Dammit, aren't 'friends' supposed to support you, god dammit!? I quickly forgot all about how tiring it was to glare and narrowed my eyes on them, only causing more laughter to erupt from their mouths.

"You. Are. Evil." I said angrily through clenched teeth.

I could practically feel Sasuke's smirk. So I just pouted again and held my nose up high as I stalked towards our training field.

"Wrong way, Lynx!" Chirou shouted good-naturedly at me, but as I walked back over to them I must have given off a murderous intent cause fear flashed in their eyes as I got there.


	11. Chirou

Training was cool, I guess. I studied with Chirou and he taught me some basic jutsu, which I picked up pretty fast, Chirou is a surprisingly good teacher. So within that short, OK, LONG few hours (more like thousands) I mastered the clone jutsu, transformation jutsu and I've gotten a head start on replacement technique. I think I'm doing pretty well so far, Sakura seems impressed by my skills, but I don't honestly think it's my skills I think it's the fact that I have a teacher with an endless well of patience and sweetness, who really cares. He's so mature, though, when he's training. I guess he just knows when to joke around and when not to.

Training went on from around 7:30 AM till around 6 PM, so yeah, I was pretty much pooped by the end. But damn, I didn't know that being a ninja would be that hard, you know? I mean come on, memorizing hand signs, honestly how hard does that sound? Though, I guess it's the physical aspect that's the hard part. Don't get me wrong though, I'm really athletic and all, but _damn _they never made us do _this_ sort of physical training back home.

Naruto went out for ramen afterwards, but I went home with Chirou. OK, that's not _quite_ true, what _really _happened was:

"_You sure you're OK Lynx?" Chirou asked me, concern obvious in his voice._

"Very_ sure, Chirou. Trust me, I'm fine!" I told him, slightly too exuberantly._

_It seems that this took the last ounce of strength I had out of me as my knees buckled underneath me and I fell to the floor. I never hit the ground, and the next thing I knew was I was in Chirou's arms as he carried me home swiftly._

"Thanks Chirou," I muttered as we got home.

"Lynx, you know if you're tired we can always stop, or I'll take you home. OK?" He told me, his voice sounded _almost_ like Nick's when I would do something stupid.

"No, really I'm fine. Now," I muttered the last part under my breath, but it seems he heard as he smirked rather smugly at me.

I narrowed my eyes slightly at him, and he chuckled at me. He's truly evil, were my exact thoughts at that moment. He continued to keep me in his arms as we made our way up the stairs. When we were on the platform he moved slowly to my room, he was surprisingly slow. Maybe he enjoyed the feeling of being in control. Later I would find out the reason was quite the opposite.

He finally laid me on my bed, and gently pulled the covers up over my body. Dammit, I could tuck myself in! I felt like a five year old right here! I pouted angrily and turned over, but Chirou, not getting the message or not trying to, sat down next to me on my bed.

"You know, sulking' not gonna get you anywhere." He stated, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"I. Don't. Care." I said each word slowly and deliberately.

"You know you've progressed surprisingly fast, you might just be another prodigy! Though, I hate to say it, but I think Sasuke more than enough for Team 7." Chirou joked, but his praise was sincere.

I smiled genuinely at him, "Thanks Chirou. And yeah, I can see why. He's a little self-absorbed, and slightly annoying, OK, extremely."

I opened my mouth to continue my 'kind' words about Sasuke, but was stopped by a hand pressing itself onto my mouth. I tried to bite him, but Chirou took his hand away quickly and replaced it with a handful of quilt. He chuckled, damn his ninja skills. I spit it out, and looked away, embarrassed he had predicted my moves. I pouted again and kept staring in the opposite direction.

Chirou did it again, he softly turned my around and pulled me into a hug, he really was unpredictable. I was so startled by this and didn't react at all at first.

"Goodnight," He said softly.

As suddenly as he had held me he was out of my arms and by the door.

"Lynx." Chirou finished with such a beautifully soft smile.

I giggle lightly as he left my room, the door shutting softly. He was so sweet! I guess brotherly love ain't too bad every once in a while. I've been the little sister my whole life, but now it seems so much more real. Chirou acts like he truly loves me like a sister and protects me because I'm his sister. When Nick, or Jake, protected me, it was always cuz they either thought I couldn't stand up for myself, they wanted the glory, or because I was their friend. I'm not complaining, they were both great guys who really did care about me, but Chirou's intentions are so much purer.

I let thoughts of the days with Em and Jake lead me into a peaceful sleep.

The same training routine the next day, Chirou carrying me home then giving me a goodnight hug. The day after it was the same, and the day after that. Our routine continued for a whole week, it was perfect. Everyday was so predictable, same stupid fights, same goodnight hugs, same blooming emotions for Sasuke and Naruto. Chirou became my heart, my steady person, my dearest friend. I'd never thought I could grow close to anyone this way other than Lexi and Nick (and Em and Jake), but here was Chirou, closer to me than anyone else.

I guess my view of perfect was, is, a little weird. But I just loved the way it felt to hold onto Chirou so close, be so open with others around me, and truly feel at home. I'd never felt this way, and though I'd never admit it, I almost forgot about missing Lexi and Nick.

As I said, though, it was only a week..

"Thanks, Chirou." I said softly as Chirou laid me on my bed for the sixth night in a row.

"Haha, it's fine. But I need to talk to you," Chirou sounded serious, it was a strange occurance.

"Yeah?" I questioned.

"Well, as you know, I'm already part of a shinobi team." I nodded my head in affirmation, "I need to start training again with them. Which means I won't be able to hang out with you any more, or train you. Which leads to my point, you're gonna have to really become part of Team 7. Like missions, Kakashi will be your full-time sensei, and so on and so forth."

I bit my lip, staying away from Chirou almost all the time sounded tough. I mean, it would be. I got home late at night, and every night I have the same person say goodnight. He makes every bad thing in the day better. Damn, it was like really having someone other than my best friend to come home to everyday. Like I actually had family.

I guess I was overreacting. I had only known him for a week, but I've only ever had about ten friends in my whole life, only four of whom lasted. Meeting someone who I could give my heart to so freely was special (as a _friend_, not like 'that'), only Em was like that, and I'd known basically all my life.

Damn Chirou, this is hard. My eyes moved downwards towards my heads, which were spread in my lap.

"OK," I said without lifting my head.

I didn't have to, Chirou lifted my chin and gently kissed my forehead. It was so sweet and innocent, like the first time he hugged me after training. I wish we could have stayed like that forever, and that I didn't have to try and live my life without someone else support. I now know the real reason I needed Chirou was because he was my crutch, someone I could lean on. I was honestly afraid of living without someone else.

"Lynx, I'm gonna miss being able to baby you, you know?" Chirou stated sweetly.

"Haha, I'm gonna miss being spoiled and babied by you, Chirou." I replied with a smile.

"Well goodnight, I'll wake you in the morning. K?"

Again I nodded.

Chirou left the room swiftly leaving me to wonder what the next day was going to be like. It was going to be strange, all right. With Chirou there I was slightly isolated from everyone else, and I'd end up being with him the whole time. Not just that, but I'd have to face kakashi-sensei. Damn, he'd be my sensei. The two of us still weren't exactly BFF… Hehe… This was gonna be _really_ interesting.


	12. NOTE Please read

**Hi! Sorry that I haven't updated in months, but-- OK, no excuses. But I'm working on the next few chapters. But until then, I NEED HELP!! **

**I need to figure out who I'm gonna pair Lynx with, or if I should just let her die single? lol, joking. So choose, please review and tell me, or send me a message.**

**Thanks!**


	13. Love you Kakashi chappie 12

Hi! _Soooooooo sooooooooo_ sorry I haven't updated in **ages...** and I have NO excuse. But SERIOUSLY I was just grounded, and before that we were moving into our new house. So please, I beg you from the bottom of my heart (corny much, lol), to forgive!

By the way, thank you _soooooooo_ much for the reviews! I love them ALL (minus one, try to guess which one!). I won't torture you all and say 'so' again, but I _will _say in conclusion. Here it comes...::

In conclusion to all those who read my story/stories (yay! I have fans!) thanks, and I will try to update soon, 'kay?

* * *

_Thump_

'_Ouch'_

'_Get up'_

'_No…'_

'_Now.'_

'_Later…'_

_Whoosh_

'_Leave me alone… Give me back my damn quilt.'_

'_Get up.'_

'_No.'_

_Splash_

I sat bolt upright as cold as ice water was poured over my barely covered body. Shivering I looked for the source of my discomfort. Chirou stood beside my bed with an empty bucket held by his side. I glared at him, attempting to burn holes into his body. It wasn't working, but it was better than nothing, right? A giggle escaped my lips. I tried to stifle traitorous sound, but it was too late, the damage was done.

Chuckles erupted from Chirou's mouth and I found myself laughing along with him. We stayed like that for a few minutes more, just enjoying the company. It was gonna be a long day without him, it was moments like this that made me remember why I loved my friends. They laughed at the stupid things that we did, and always made me laugh along with them. They were the best.

The last thought made me miss Lexi and Nick for the first time in days. We were always like this together, always laughing, always horse playing, always just being there for each other. Damn… Oh well, I'm gonna see them soon anyways, it's been a whole week, I'll find a way to see them even if it means hurting someone. Haha, yeah right. Like I could even land a punch on one of the shinobi here! I've found out the hard way that I was NO match for any of them! Insert nervous giggles.

Chirou and I slowly sobered up and he grinned devilishly at me.

"C'mon,_you _have to get ready for training, and _I_ need to get some breakfast. So I'll be all fueled up to annoy you!" My eye twitched.

"Shut. Up. And. Leave. Me. Alone." I told him, aggravated.

"Whatever you say, _Lynx._" I growled in response, but his grin merely widened.

Fuck him, I was cold, wet, and tired he was gonna leave me alone to get ready _this minute,_ or he would face the wrath of a woman in the morning. I think most of you know by now that that _is not_ something _anyone_ wants to face.

I narrowed my eyes and sent him a death glare that gave him visible goosebumps.

I think Chirou got the picture. How do I know this? Because he backed out of the room slowly with fear oh so evident in his eyes. And I, being the sadist I was, enjoyed every minute of it. Insert evil laughter.

Breakfast was over and Chirou had just dropped me off at the training field, hugging me goodbye. Today was my first day of being a _real_ part of Team 7. Oh joy, note the sarcasm.

Sakura stood near Sasuke, not quite as near as she used to be, but still within a three feet of him. Naruto was just arriving and Kakashi wasn't any where to be seen (what a surprise). I walked towards Sakura, smiling as I walked.

"Hey," I said, "What's up?"

"Waiting, what about you?" Replied she, with about as much enthusiasm as a snail. At least I wasn't the only bored one.

"Same… Fun, fun, fun!" I exclaimed sarcastically.

Sakura laughed dryly at my comment. We both sighed simultaneously, and burst into real laughter. Staring straight at us with a 'What the fuck is wrong with you' look, was one Sasuke Uchiha. He looked sooo hot… NO! I did not just think that! OK, I did, and he is fucking cute. Hehe, yeah, he is. My mind wandered to places that should not be expressed in print. Yeah, I think you know what. Oh how immature I was, cuz yeah, I'm not immature now or anything… Hehheh…

Sakura's eyes darted to Sasuke and tears welled up in them, though they settled almost straight away. What was wrong?

"Sakura, you OK?" I frowned slightly, I might be stupid, but people-stupid I am not (if that makes any sense at all).

"Ye-yeah, of course." She laughed slightly, basically ignoring Sasuke.

"Yo," Kakashi broke the tension with his usual lazy greeting. Men, insert sigh here.

"Kakashi!!" I squealed excitedly, if I wasn't going to be evil to him, I might as well be his fangirl, right?

"Lynx," He acknowledged.

"Ooohhh! He said my name! Eep! Kaka, do you like me? No- wait- that's not right! Do you luuuuurrrrvvvvveeee me?" Kakashi looked bewildered, even behind his mask.

Naruto, on the other hand, just looked scared. And Sasuke? Bored. Heh, what a surprise…

"Uh-- Lynx, are you feeling OK?"

"Perfect, now that _you're_ here Kakashi." I purred with a wink.

"Lynx, I know that losing Chirou was traumatic but you don't have to take it out on us." Sasuke deadpanned.

"Shut up, bastard. You just want Kakashi all to yourself. Well, you can't have him! He lurvs me and I lurve him!" I spat at the ravenette, receiving a bored look in return.

"Lynx, really, maybe you should rest." Kakashi suggested, feigning interest.

"NO! I can't! Kakashi, I'd miss you too much. Please, I could never leave you!" I pleaded, my eyes watering (years of practice, what can I say?).

"Lynx, just shut up, let's start training already." Kakashi sighed loudly, aww, my disruption would be pulled to an untimely end. "Today we will be covering…"

The day rolled by in the blink of an eye, OK, more like a million blinks and another billion blah's from Kakashi. Yeah, it was boring. Uneventful, and boring. We didn't too much, just basically sparred. Then Kakashi lectured us on what we'd done wrong and how to improve our fight. What did he tell me, though? Blah blah blah. Sigh.

We ended training with a bowl (or eight in Naruto's and my case) of ramen. Then headed home, Sakura and I walking together a while before setting off. It was simple a boring day with a boring ending.

But what can ya do? Right…?


	14. Reunions Kakashi's friend!

Wow, it's been - seriously - months since I've last updated! Please forgive me! I beg of you! I know I have no excuses! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm working on the next now, it should be up **SOON!!**

**Review please!**

* * *

Another day of harsh training, I think I'm doing really well. Sakura is impressed, Naruto is competing, and Sasuke uncaring. Ha! Deal with that bitches! This girl is gonna be the best kunoichi you've ever seen! Woot woot! Yeah, be jealous. Well, the next few days were the same as well. I'm not gonna bore you with the simple details- like when I tripped over or when Sasuke kicked Naruto's ass… again- so I'll skip right to the juice. Ya ready? Hold on to your seats, baby!

"Kakashi, babe, how are ya?" I greeted, receiving the average nod of the head in acknowledgement, I paid it no mind. "Naru honey!"

"Hey, Lynx!" He grinned in reply. "You're late. Later than Kakashi!"

"Seriously, babe, what's up with that?" Sakura asked jokingly. I had changed her a lot… maybe too much, but still, she was more open and less obsessed with Sasuke than was before.

"Hehe… Chirou kept me late at breakfast. Anyways, where's Sasu?" I scratched the back of my neck, a nervous habit I'd picked up from Naruto.

"Right here." Came Sasuke's dry response.

"Good, now that we're all here- Lynx- we can begin." Kakashi sighed slightly, almost in relief.

"Kakashi! Are you practicing next to the memorial as well?" A strange voice called from right next to the tree line.

The owner of the voice was a woman- appearing to be in her early twenties. She was beautiful. The woman had long black-brown hair that fell to just above her waist. She wore a form-fitting dress that looked as if it were made of bandages, underneath was a deep red underdress. It suited her olive-complexion perfectly. The woman hardly affected Sasuke but Naruto, Sakura and I were left breathless. I felt no ill-feeling or jealousy towards her. I was simply amazed.

"Woah, she's beautiful." Naruto remarked, Sakura and I nodded in dull agreement, both still amazed.

"Yes, Kurenai, we are. We've practiced here since these little creatures were assigned to me. Why aren't you at your usual training grounds?" Kakashi replied, unfazed.

"Ugh, some special jounins are training for jounin on our grounds. Tsunade has ordered them to practice on our usual grounds and for us to practice here instead." The two conversed in friendly tones, but their words were simple and to the point. Friends don't treat each other like this- but then again, another part of me thought, this was the shinobi world.

"You could practice with us, I'm sure this would be a good learning experience for our students. Though we might not be able to do anything if you don't release your little illusion, you've already seduced three of my students."

"Haha! Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist throwing a little genjutsu for your students. I did the same to mine, before teaching them how to release it, something you seemed to have forgotten to do." Kurenai chuckled quietly and released the illusion.

Suddenly she looked like a normal woman with normal brown hair and pretty features. I was under now illusion now but I was still amazed- though for a different reason. What she had just done, it was amazing. It was the sort of thing that you would read about in myths. Now the envy hit me, though for that power, rather than her looks.

"Can we study with Kurenai today? I mean- wouldn't it be cool for one day to learn from someone else? Then afterwards we can spar, not 7 against theirs, but just split into random teams and see how we've improved." I suggested, hoping no one would see the hunger for power in my eyes. Never thought I'd compare myself to Sasuke, but at that point I knew I was just like him, with a terrible thirst for power and a lust for strength over all else.

"That-- isn't such a bad idea Lynx. I'm impressed, what say you, Kurenai?" Kakashi replied, smiling proudly at me.

"Sounds good to me." Kurenai smiled slightly, then turning to face her half-hidden team. "Hinata, Shino, Kiba, you'll be working with Kakashi today. Make me proud,"

"Hai!" The three replied happily, waving at her as they left. They were so close!

The first person to come into sight was a pale girl black-blue hair, she walked with her eyes pointed downwards, she was quite pretty, but in a more subtle way. Her eyes darted upwards nervously as she passed Naruto and she blushed madly. Cute! She had a crush my Naruto -yes, I said my Naruto! Naruto greeted her with a simple, "Hi, Hinata." Aww! It was such a pretty name too!

The next was a boy. He had brown hair and olive skin, a lot unlike the first girl. Also unlike the girl he walked with his shoulders and chin upright in a proud position. With a- a what??- dog at his feet, the two chatting merrily. He _and_ the dog growled at Naruto as they passed him, but gave way to a joking grin. I was caught up in the fact that his dog and he were talking so much that I didn't notice the fact that he was cute. Well, he was.

The third was a medium height boy. He had brown hair, but the bottom of his face and eyes were hidden by his wide rimmed coat and his dark sunglasses. He was almost scary but on a different level he was mysterious- Alexis had to love him.

Sure enough Alexis bounded towards us, though not before throwing her arms around the mysterious boy's neck. A blush creeped its way onto his face, which sent me into a fit of giggles. Lexi never changed, and she could still make guys blush for her.

"OHMYGOD!! LYYYYNNNNNNNXXXXXXXX!" Lexi jumped off of Shino and ran to me with her arms spread open.

"LEXIIII!!" I exclaimed in reply, running to meet her.

We collided with an audible thump, and our arms wrapped tightly around each other. I laughed into her shoulder as we held each other. Two weeks had been too long.

"Lexi! I missed you soooo much! I can't believe I haven't seen you in ages!" I cried.

"I know! I missed you too!" Replied she loudly.

"How's everything? How's your team? Are they cool? Have got another best friend? Have you got a new boyfriend? Have you seen Nick?"

"Woooooooaaaah. Slow down, girl! No new best friend, some cool friends, but you know that you and Nick are my number 1's. No bf, but trust me, I'm working on it." Lexi stole a glance at the silent Shino and the not-so-silent Kiba.

"Mmm, interesting choices, mysterious versus loud and funny. Can't wait to see who ya get first." Replied I mock serious.

"Me neither! Hehe… But I haven't seen Nick… I'd have him get those boys jealous! Oh yeah, baby! They'd love me after that!" Lexi cackled evilly, I grinned in reply.

"Ahem," Kakashi coughed loudly.

"Oh yeah… haha. I guess I'll see you after training! Hopefully we're put on the same sparring team!" I said scratching the back of my neck.

"Oh… OK… I'll see ya later." She replied, crestfallen.

I then dragged our team over to where Kurenai was standing, Sasuke because he didn't want to do anything that I told him to do and Naruto because he was deep in 'conversation' with Kiba. AKA they were rowing about some stupid subject or another.

Kurenai stood patiently waiting for us, a tell-tale smile of amusement on her face. She May be my idol, but she still annoyed me with her smug grin. I inwardly growled. I'm such a sad little girl- I get mad at the smallest things.

"So what are we gonna learn? Do we get to learn genjutsu?" I inquired, my head cocked to the side in a manner which I thought looked sweet.

"If that's what you want to learn, then yes, we will." Kurenai smiled prettily, though there was an evil glint in her eye.

"What's the catch?" I was suspicious.

"No catch, I swear, we'll learn some genjutsu."

"YAY!" I exclaimed happily.

Finally, some _fun_ ninja training!


	15. The Basics and my Meeting With Kiba

**OH YEAH! I'M ON A ROLL!** Hope you like this next chapter! As usual -

_**PLEASE REVIEW!!**_

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"Don't get too excited, Lynx. It's not as much fun as it might look like." Kurenai told us, sternly.

"I never said I thought it would be _easy_, Kurenai. I just thought it would be _interesting_." I grinned sadistically.

"Uh oh." Naruto and Sasuke glanced at one another, obviously scared of what my sadistic mind might do with the knowledge we were about to be presented with.

I began to cackle sadistically, though quietly. That seemed to scare the men more than my words. Sakura, on the other hand, grinned along with me and glared at Naruto just as sadistically - if not more.

"Now - before any accidents occur -" With a glance at Sakura and me, she continued. "We shall begin."

With that she began her lecture on the who, what, when, and hows of genjutsu. She then told us of which handsigns would be of use to us while practicing it. And so on and so forth. Naruto stood with a bewildered expression on his face, Sasuke simply stood cold and stoic, while Sakura and I gazed at her with our full attention, both sets of eyes bright and interested.

We then began practicing, simple techniques. Naruto neither understood nor completed any of them - growing more frustrated by the second. Sasuke got everything perfect, and Sakura and me? It was second nature to us. Somehow this ability suited us very well. Playing with other's minds, just with chakra. It took pinpoint chakra control and a lot of strong will. Both of these traits commonly appear in kunoichis. It's just in our nature.

"Well done Sakura. Lynx, that's amazing." Kurenai told us proudly, then continuing to point out whatever errors we might have made. "That's good, Sasuke. But your handsigns are too fast and not separated. They have almost 'melted' into one."

She flinched visibly when Naruto tested out on her. Then scolded him for the lack of attention he showed towards her. Then she _tried_ to help him improve his technique - in vain. Ninjutsu seemed to work a little better for Naruto.

We didn't get to do that much, but we did get to learn and perfect the easiest of genjutsu techniques.

"Wow. Kurenai is such an awesome teacher, I wish Kakashi-sensei were more like her sometimes…" Sakura sighed in exasperation with our lazy teacher.

"True dat. I wonder if she teaches her students this stuff as well? Actually- I don't give a shit. I just wanna learn more." I had my heart set on becoming a genjutsu master.

Sakura laughed, then said: "I'm not sure, it was very interesting and all, but it just doesn't seem like the way I'd like to spend my training. I think I prefer ninjutsu."

"Oh. You can join the _guys_ then! Just kidding wit chu, Sakura. If we get, like, a taijutsu kid the three of us would be, like, _soooooo _awesome!" I exclaimed, my mind racing around the possibilities of what we could accomplish.

"Yeah. But Sasuke-kun is good at taijutsu," She acknowledged, a blush crossing her face.

"So, Sasuke-"kun" is a self-centered, egotistical little man who doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself." I told her, annoyed.

"Oh, I guess." Her face fell, but she looked up again sharply and exclaimed: "ROCK LEE!"

"Who's Lee?" I questioned, befuddled.

"Rock Lee, he graduated a year before us from the genin academy! He only uses taijutsu, and he's _really_ amazing at it, too!" Exclaimed she happily.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 'kay." Nodding, I backed away jokingly.

"No, seriously, Lynx. He's an awesome shinobi, he saved our lives during the chunin exam." She gestured towards our other two teammates who were walking - in step - behind us.

"Oh." Replied I intelligently.

We chatted happily the rest of the way back, Sakura explaining - boasting (she had every right to) - about what her team had to go through during the chunin exams. I was shocked by what mere _12 year olds_ were put through over here. Then again, they _had_ chosen this path. But it still shocked and astounded me.

We entered the clearing once more and Kurenai 'appeared' in front of us. Kakashi and Lexi's team were already waiting.

"Are you finished, Kakashi?" Kurenai inquired, challengingly.

"Yes, are you, Kurenai?" Replied he, lazily as always.

"Hai." She confirmed, "We need to split the children up into teams, so that they can spar. What do you suggest."

"I suggest they work in pairs, each with someone they have never worked with before." He said, actually looking up from his porn magazine.

She 'hn'-ed in agreement. And thus they began the seperation process. Obviously I wouldn't be on Lexi's team, we've worked together for most of our lives. And no one from our team, cuz we're on the same team. So that left Kiba and Shino - not Hinata because I had actually met her before, and Kurenai and Kakashi were bent on making us work with someone _completely_ new to us.

Kurenai and Kakashi stood aside from us, every once in a while casting a calculating glace in our direction. Then they smirked simultaneously and walked over.

"OK, the teams are as followed. Lexi and Sasuke," Lexi glared him down, I guess she thought he was one of the 'wannabe' emos we used to know. "Hinata and Naruto, Sakura and Shino, and Lynx and Kiba."

I grinned and walked over to the equally hyper dog-boy.

"Yo." I greeted.

"Hey."

"Lynx, nice to meet ya."

"I know. Kiba, and same."

"Coolio."

"What?" He looked at me strangely - befuddled.

"Haha, it means cool." I explained with a laugh.

"Ohhh… coolio."

We smirked.

"Tactics?" I inquired.

"What do you specialize in?"

"Uhh… I dunno, I'm sorta new to this whole thing. I'm good with chakra control and I get the basics of genjutsu well. You?" I replied uncertainly.

"Tracking and I use Akamaru here to attack. We attack as clones, and both know each other's moves well. I can do distraction, and then hit the final blow. If you're willing to sneak up behind our opponents?" He offered.

"That sounds awesome. So, opponents?"

"OK, Sakura and Shino first. Shino uses bug techniques to get behind enemy lines - much like you're about to do. And Sakura… I'm actually not sure. We all saw her taijutsu fight with Ino and we've seen some of the ninjutsu she does, but we don't know that much. The two's styles are different but compliment each other greatly. They are the hardest, but we can try to attack Sakura first, aiming for Shino later when he has no one - two on one - will work better for us."

"Sakura usually mixes taijutsu with ninjutsu, her main abilities are the replacement technique and rapid attacks. She also has pinpoint chakra control. She attacks straight up. Just to let you know," I informed.

"Sasuke and Lexi. Lexi uses mainly taijutsu and kinjutsu - swords and weapons. She also uses taijutsu. Her attacks are not very well thought out. Also she is rash in battle."

"Sasuke deals in ninjutsu, again he can track with his eyes. He specializes in taijutsu and ninjutsu. Usually using ninjutsu do distract or injure the opponent, then finishing them off with taijutsu. As long as we keep away from him, then once he is injured - arms hopefully - we deal the killing blow. Though Hinata might choose to take it for him, in which case we can let her take it from you while I attack Sasuke with a simple genjutsu and you finish him off."

"OK. Last but not least, Naruto and Hinata. Hinata specializes in her kekkei genkai - the byakugan. She has a 360 degrees sight, though with one miniscule blind spot that is almost impossible to find. She usually does tracking and uses soft-punch technique. So we need to stay clear of her. And using clones with evenly distributed chakra would - might - confuse her. Naruto?"

"Naruto mainly uses clones and likes to deal the final blow with rasengan, though he rarely uses it. His taijutsu is OK, it is what his clones stick to. He needs at least one clone to deal rasengan. To counter this we could eliminate his clones with out own, so that he could use rasengan on a clone while we attack from behind?"

"We're done?"

"Yeah, we good."

Just in time Kurenai called our meetings to a halt.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!


	16. Hyper v the Emo One and my BFFL

**Chapter 15 is out! Yay! Hope you all like it! As usual: ****REVIEW**

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"You ready to kick some ass, Kiba?"

"Hell yeah, they don't stand a chance." He replied confidently, then adding: "Are you clear on the plan? I'll attack them head-on, then you can injure or finish them off from behind. Remember, we _need_ to separate them. If you can't take them out we attack together. But I do need you to continue attacking our target with kunai and shuriken. Halt when I give the word, then throw these-" He handed me some smoke bombs. "At them. I work better when my target cannot see. Though - depending on who we're up against, we might have some trouble getting them into the smoke. Our only hope is if we can get Alexis and Sasuke's team. Naruto, Shino, and Hinata know my techniques well."

I nodded in agreement, mentally going over the plan.

My heart raced terribly and my mind was thrown into a panic as I thought about what we had to do. This would be my first fight as well. At least, against - and with - shinobi outside of our team. Oh god. This would not be good.

'_No, no panicking. Look, Lexi isn't panicking, you have _no_ reason to panic. OK? We'll be fine… OK, we'll be fine. I mean, c'mon, you've got one cute and strong dog boy on your team and we're a genius! What could go wrong?'_ I told myself, then smirking. There was no chance we'd lose. Lexi didn't even know Sasuke, but she already hated him. She wouldn't give him a chance. Hinata looked too faint to even hear Naruto. And Sakura and Shino? They worked well together, but Sakura - though smart and with a thorough understanding of most techniques - was the weakest here. I was born for this. Yes, I was. I reassured myself, boosting my already full to the brim ego.

"Lynx, you said you're good with chakra control, right?" Kiba asked, I nodded. "Can you use chakra to kill, yet? Without taijutsu? Just plain chakra?"

"I didn't even know you could do that. So no, sorry Kibz." I replied, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, OK, Kibz?" He looked dead serious now.

"What? It's cute." I blushed - fake blushed, but still blushed.

He growled, while Akamaru yipped loudly in what sounded suspiciously like laughter. I had to cover my face to stifle my laughter. Kiba blushed and turned away.

"Aww, I'm sowwy Kiba." I used the deadly baby voice, matching it with the even deadlier puppy eyes as I turned him around to look at me.

"Even Akamaru's laughing at me. I trusted you, boy. I've got no one left any more! Why me?" He wailed jokingly.

"Hehe, aww. I'm still here." I offered.

"Why meeeeeeeee?" He wailed even louder.

We laughed loudly, drawing the other's attention.

"Ahem, hehe-- ahem, hehe." I tried to regain my composure by clearing my throat, though that merely resulted in another painful laughing fit. Kiba was practically guffawing by that point!

"Hehe- Ni-hehe-ce, Lyyyyyynnnnxxxxx!" He managed to get out before succumbing to another fit.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lexi fighting back laughter. I let out a screech of laughter and she burst.

"Hehehehehe-- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She screamed, Naruto and Sakura joined in with her, Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata were the only three _not_ laughing by this time - even Kurenai and Kakashi were letting out appreciative chuckles! Slowly Hinata began to giggle abashedly, but the other two remained stoic. Their "stoicness" caused me to laugh even more.

Slowly our laughter died down - with some prompting from our teachers, though.

"Ahem - alright. Is everyone ready to begin?" Kurenai inquired, not even waiting for a reply as she continued. "You will all be fighting at the same time. If you attack another team - other than your opponents - you shall immediately be forced to forfit. We will be playing for first blood - once you have drawn blood you are out of the game. Your team can continue without you, though once both on the team have drawn blood you are finished."

Kakashi then continued: "The first games shall be between Team Lynx and Team Sasuke. The winners of this match will go against the winner of Team Sakura and Team Naruto's battle. Both team members will be back in the game during the second game. The losing teams shall face off to find out who shall be in last place and who in third. Understood?" With a collective murmuring of consent, "Take your positions and we will call when you are to begin."

Kiba grabbed my arm, I then moved my hand up to his and entwined our fingers - it was far more comfortable than having him pinch into my biceps. We ran towards the edge of the clearing. Planning to go back into the clearing - against Sasuke we would be at a disadvantage in the thickets of the forest.

"Kiba, when this is all over, do you promise to cut your finger nails? They're killing my poor palm." I whined to him.

"Whatever." He replied with a roll of his eyes, though he loosened his grip on my hand.

"Thanks."

"Hn."

"Don't become another Sasuke, please? I think one gay, chicken-haired, emo ass is plenty for me. I don't want another one." I told him, trust me, a girl can only take so many 'hn's' before wanting to rip out a guy's tongue.

"Haha, I promise!" Joked he.

"Phew, that's good to hear!"

"C'mon, we need to be prepared. This is _not _going to be a fun battle. Damn Kurenai and Kakashi. Too lazy to even prepare another place to battle, though I have a feeling the other two teams will want to be in the forest."

We positioned ourself in a thin bush. The bush did not provide much protection, simply enough to let our teachers believe that we were ready - and so that the two of us could talk and our voices would be smothered and muffled.

The 'flag up' sounded through the forest and clearing like a _very_ agitated bird's mating call. I had to stifle giggles - gawd, I was so immature! Kiba and I began to dig furiously underground covering the entrance with leaves and twigs from surrounding shrubbery. We dug into the middle of the clearing. Waiting for the Uchiha to find us with his sharingan. Kiba smelt his nearing presence and dug a while for our tunnel to branch off so that he could attack the Uchiha straight up - A.K.A. from right in front of him.

Lexi knelt behind a bush, as Kiba had told me. I 'appeared' from out of the ground behind her, silently. She didn't even notice - she was absorbed in the boy's battle.

"Sorry, Lexi." I whispered, pulling out a kunai.

"Lynx! How did you- ow fuck!" She said, her voice hushed.

I had used the kunai to slice down her biceps. It was a very small cut, just deep enough to draw blood, but it ran down from her shoulder to her elbow. It just seemed more, I don't know, effective? No, truth be told I couldn't make it too small because it made me feel proud, the blood did.

Kakashi 'poofed' in behind us and pulled Lexi up, before 'poofing' away with her. I inwardly congratulated myself on my first 'kill'.

The next step was to corner Sasuke. Though I would have to do this silently, and invisibly. It sounds nearly impossible, but I could just dig another hole. I marked Sasuke's place in my mind and began to dig towards it.

The ground piled beside my new hole. Sasuke had not yet seen me. Quickly, before he noticed, I made three clones of myself, sending one to help Kiba fight him immediately. The other two were placed 'strategically' (yeah, right) around the clearing, making sure to be hidden. I myself stayed in the hole. Hidden by a shadow.

My first clone attacked Sasuke from behind. He looked startled and could only dodge. My clone began to throw kunais and shurikens furiously, Sasuke dodged most, only receiving one shuriken in his left arm. His bad arm as it was - he was a righty.

I popped out of the hole and began making handsigns, sure I was improvising a bit, but once you understand the theory then you can have a little fun with it, right? My genjutsu merely made Sasuke less aware of his surroundings, or the original would have. My 'pimped out' version created a different illusion - an illusion that led him into my mind.

At the moment Sasuke would be seeing Kiba fall over, cut. My clone 'poofed' away and his team victorious. Though in the real world Kiba was advancing on him.

The sharingan, though, would not be fooled into believing a beginner's illusion and he snapped out of it as Kiba was five feet away. My clone took the signal from Kiba and threw the smoke bombs. Sasuke May be able to see through it, but it gave Kiba a slight advantage. From here I could surround the smoky area with my three clones and myself and be ready to attack him once Sasuke escapes. I began to throw kunais, all of them had my scent on them so that Kiba could dodge them in the mist. A muffled scream and Kiba was thrown out of the smoke. What? There was no kunai in him, but a long, bloody gash had been made along his arm. He was, like Lexi, poofed away. I was now left alone against Sasuke.

'_Oh god.'_ I was scared, far more than my pride would allow me to show. But I was.

We drew closer to each other, I noticed a wet patch on his arm. It was darker than usual. But it was blood. Should I call it? '_No._' Was my answer, I wanted to fight him. He was strong, and I needed a goal to set myself to.

I readied myself, taking stance. Without giving him any chance to prepare I began vigorously throwing chakra enhanced kunai and shuriken - I didn't know how I was doing this, but something in me transferred the chakra into the weapons without thinking. He simply dodged them, I ran. He would try to catch me off guard. I dropped into one of our burrows, quickly switching with a new clone. My chakra reserves did not falter all through this for I reclaimed the chakra in my weapons with a tug of my hand.

My clone suddenly stopped all movement, tugging back the rest of the chakra enhanced weapons in the process.

Sure enough, Sasuke appeared behind it. He hit it nonchalantly, and I popped out from behind him. As my clone 'poofed' away, I struck him with chakra. Somehow - as luck would have it - I hit a vein, not a chakra point, but a vein. I swelled with pride as he began to fall, though he poofed in the process and my ego deflated as suddenly as it had inflated.

"Oh." I said, oh so intelligently, before grinning stupidly and scratching the back of my neck.

I felt a presence behind me and did not even turn before stabbing my kunai backwards. It hit. My eyes widened in shock, and I turned around. It hadn't drawn blood, but the side had thumped him.

Kakashi appeared and broke us apart.

"Blood, on your arm, Sasuke. Kiba already took you out." He told us, I simply stared.

I had wanted to beat him! '_That's not fair!'_ I thought, pouting grumpily and folding my arms in a huff. Why didn't they stop him before? SO NOT FAIR!!

Kiba ran up to me and hugged me tightly.

"WE WON! WE WON! FINALS FOR US!" He shouted happily, a grin evident on his face.

"I KNOW! WOOT WOOT!" I screamed in reply, hugging him back. His happiness was contagious.

Kurenai appeared suddenly next to Kakashi.

"Team Shino win. Who of your battle was victorious?" She informed.

"Team Lynx." He flashed his eyes in my direction, his eyes glinting in something I liked to believe was pride.

"The two will face off in a minute then, this should be interesting." Remarked she pleasantly.


	17. Nick With and Without

This chapter is an intermission. Well, not so much an intermission as a break from the main story line. We will switch point of views from mine, to Nick's. Thought it would be fun for a chappie! So now - insert me doing a bunch of really fast handsigns - let us visit my best friend temporarily AS HIM! Yes, I am laughing maniacally. Here we go:

"Nick! That's so _sweet_!" Ino squealed at me, I grinned happily.

"I know." Replied I cockily.

What had I done to get the impossible to please (save one emo shinobi) Ino Yamanaka to _squeal_ for me? I had given her a delicate hibiscus bloom, it means delicate beauty. Ino reacted well to this as she helped out in her parent's flower shop in her free hours. So she knew what it meant. Ino was a great girl, and, as a friend, I loved her to death.

At first we didn't get along too well, but with Shikamaru and Choji's emotional separation from her she had no one to go to. Even the bitchiest girl in the world - yes, Lynx, I'm talking about you - needs someone to talk to. So, I - the amazing, awesome, sexy Nick - gave her a soft shoulder to cry on. So we became friends. Yup, isn't that awesome? She's definitely strong, and a great person (damn, I'm sounding so corny, I need one of my gals to beat some sense into me) a friend is exactly what she deserves.

"Hehe, delicate beauty. Do you really think that, Nick?" She inquired, her voice uncertain.

"Of course, Ino." I gave her a reassuring hug.

"Thanks, Nick. I love you so much." She told me, I smiled widely.

"I love ya too, you're my gal? Or one of them…" I added in an undertone, they were genuine.

"Thanks for being here for me." We simply continued our embrace, basking in our moment of horrific corniness. Good times, good times.

"Are we interrupting something?" Shikamaru asked lazily, entering our forest 'area'/training grounds.

"Yeah, so fuck off." Ino said rudely, not meaning it, just embarrassed, Choji and Shikamaru knew that.

"Hahaha." I chuckled appreciatively.

"Sparring for today?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Yeah, guess so."

Training was boring that day (even though I was exhausted by the end of it). Ino and I teamed up against Choji and Shikamaru (and lost…). So all in all (minus giving Ino a beautiful flower) my day sucked. But I wasn't too pissed about it 'cause I had Lexi at home. We both lived with Kurenai - her teacher. I wished I could see more of Lynx, though Lexi and I were close and I loved her to death (more than she knew…) Lynx and I had known each other longer and she always finds a way to put a smile on my face. Whether intentionally or not, she did.

Lexi, on the other hand, provoked the strangest emotions. Pain, giddiness, restlessness, hopelessness, and confusion. I sorta guessed what it was, though I could never say it out loud for fear I could be wrong or hurt even more. Before I turned 12 (the year we started sixth grade) I could never understand the way Lynx felt for Jake. She cared about him more than anything, she told only Em, until the two were gone. Then she opened up. We could tell, though. But why? I always asked myself, why did she like him so much? It just didn't make sense. And the way she seemed happier around him, but at the same time more depressed. I only understood when we got into middle school, when girls became more than just friends. And Lexi looked a whole lot different than before.

Slowly I began to understand what I felt, but I ignored it. I still try to, she's still my best friend. So I can't like her. If I did then Lynx would hate me, why? For being so clichè. That and she's really protective of Lexi, sure I'm protective of her, but she'd never want me and Lexi to get together for fear that she or I would get hurt and our friendship might suffer. Blah, everything to do with Lexi is complicated. I know what I want, but all those stupid complications!

OK, let's get off that subject. It hurts my head. Ino and I went out for dinner, separately to get away from the others for a night. She seemed so vulnerable when we were away from those two. Maybe it was their strength that kept her strong in their presence, or maybe for fear of being teased, or simply not wanting to appear weak. When around me, she knew I was just as weak as her. So she was more open. For a guy I can be way too sensitive, but when the only friends you've got are girls you learn to be sympathetic to their needs. 'Specially with Lynx. She's violent.

Our dinner was simple, we ate at the local tea shop. I had onigiri (lately my appetite hadn't been that large) with soy sauce on top since I'm not the adventurous type when it comes to food. I'd rather be safe. Ino had something small as well, she was very self-conscious. I don't understand why, she is too skinny - at least compared to where I came from. But then again, I'm never gonna understand a girl's need to be skinnier than the next one. I personally don't mind (within reason of course, I'm not _that_ deep) their weight. I mean, even Lexi isn't as skinny as her. She has these great curves and-- let's leave that for another time.

When I got home that night Lexi was in an animated conversation with Kurenai and oblivious to the rest of the world. So I trudged into the kitchen, grabbed a snack, and made my way up the stairs. My room was simple, but I liked that. Though I'm not one for aesthetics, I had added a few touches. The room was originally a canary yellow, sickening, so Kurenai and I painted it one Saturday - pale blue. We also changed the bedspread (from a peachy colour) to some shade of blue or another. I have a blue fetish. That's about it.

I lay on my bed, munching on an apple, just reminiscing on the day and my life in general. I'm a deep person - this is where Lynx would say: '_yeah, right'_ or '_in your dreams, blondie'_. Never thought I'd miss her sarcasm… Hell, I even miss when she pretends to be nice to me, then throws me down the stairs. Yeah, we've been through a lot. But thick and thin she's always there to kick me when I'm down.

"Nick?" Came a voice from the doorway, I recognised it as Lexi's.

"Yeah, come in." I smiled.

"How was training?" She inquired, flopping unceremoniously onto my bed.

"Eh, it was OK… gave Ino the flower you told me to. She seemed happier afterwards." I grinned cheesily at her, receiving a similar one in reply.

"No matter what girls say, we _all_ love getting flowers from guys! It makes us feel wanted!" She stated happily. She wasn't hinting at anything, I gave her flowers all the time, if I randomly picked one, or bought a bouquet for her birthday… so she had _nothing_ to complain about there.

"How was _your_ training? How's _Kiba_?" I teased, my insides squirming at the mention of her crush.

"Eh, training's gooooood. And Kiba's still a cute lil dog boy who I _shall_ get my hands on." She dragged out the 'good' in a way that made my heart do little backflips.

"Haha, good luck with that." She grinned in reply.

"I wanna see Lynx again, we're not together any more. It's not fair. I miss her." She told me, after a pause.

"Yeah," I stared into space, wondering what she might be doing at that point in time. It was a common occurrence around here. But I had Lexi, and one friend had to be better than none (sorry Lynx!), so I guessed I was lucky in a way.

"I wonder what she's doing right now? Do you think she still thinks about us all the time, I mean, she's always seemed to move on fast. She was the first to get back onto her feet when they--" Lexi coughed slightly, covering an almost sob. "She helped us get over them, as well. Do you think she would forget us just like that? I don't know… I hope she's OK. She makes friends easily, but she makes enemies quicker. Oh, Nick, I miss her so much!"

I pulled Lexi into a warm embrace. I missed Lynx too, I missed our trio, I missed the other two as well, but they were long gone, while Lynx was still out there - without us. _Without us_, the words rang through my head. _Without her_, heh, strange thoughts, huh?

"Yeah, but we're gonna see her soon. And I'm sure she wouldn't forget us, she's my gal, and your sis practically. She wouldn't _dare_ forget us! I know you're worried about her, but she'll be fine. You're right about the friends and enemies part, though. But I'm sure she can handle herself. And, even though I don't trust him, Chirou will look after her. He's a ninja, after all." I reassured her, believing every word that had just come out of my mouth and hoping the same for her.

"I hope you're right. You better be right, or I'll set Asuma on you and say you've been hittin' on his woman!" She threatened jokingly, I took a mock scared step back.

"You _wouldn't_!" I replied, aghast.

"Oh, I would." Replied she, gravely.

We laughed loudly at the stupid joke. Both content. We joked for a while longer, before getting ready for bed and, eventually, going to sleep. Only to restart another cycle.

Again, even in a new world, life falls into a steady routine. That routine always gives me some sort of comfort in the fact that the next day will be OK. That it will all be the same. Even though deep down I know that something has to happen soon to break this simplistic, yet comfortable, routine. Nothing is ever peaceful forever. Whether its peaceful in, simply, it's conflict, or actual calm peace. It will all end one day.

On that note I'm leaving you, for now.

Nick, over and out.


	18. End of the Battle chapter 17

Hiya! I'm back, yes, it's Lynx, don't act so disappointed! You know you love me really. OK, back on track.

So back to the ever-so-epic battle of two amazing forces. Kiba and me versus Shino and Sakura.

Once Kakashi shouted for us to begin, we rushed into our previous positions, this time covering ourselves somewhat more thoroughly. I grinned as Sakura attempted to sneak up on us. She stood no chance. My clone slashed her from behind. She was out already. Next was Shino.

"You're going down Shino!" Growled Kiba, provoking a sly grin.

Shino appeared before us, or, more like above us. He sat, lax, on a branch, his sharp eyes taking us and our surroundings in. His cheekbones rose somewhat higher than usual, proving that he was smiling, however slightly. I frowned, digging into the earth in order to get myself behind him. Of course, Kiba had warned of his bugs, so I made sure to make three clones of myself to place at different positions that, to Shino, would seem like a very likely place for a beginner ninja to strike from. He would underestimate me, that was our bet.

Kiba and Akamaru began attacking him rapidly. Suddenly a thought rushed into my head _'why is Kiba getting all the credit for this? How come he gets to take Shino down? That ain't fair!' _I pouted and crossed my arms. I didn't act on it but it annoyed me.

One of my clones began shouting encouragement, the other three silencing themselves.

"YOU CAN DO IT KIBZ! YEAH! WE ARE THE FRIGGIN BOMB! FUCK YEAH! KICK HIS ASS!" She shouted, at least she didn't _act_ like a clone… hehe.

Another clone suddenly popped up, all was going according to plan mwahahahaha! (like my evil laugh? I've been workin' it!)

"KIBA! KI-IBA!" She screamed, even louder than the previous clone. Then the third popped up.

"KIBZ! YOU ARE THE SHIT! YOU CAN DO IT! SLAM HIS DISEMBODIED ASS INTO THE FLOOR! BURN HIS EVIL LITTLE BUG PUPPETS! SMASH HIS FBI SUNGLASSES! KICK HIM INTO SUNA! WOOOOO! GO KIBA!" She cheered, such colourful language! I was inwardly very proud of my performance.

Without warning I slunk my chakra up the bark of the tree, blending it into the natural energy. Later I would be told that I held a special gift for being able to not just mold my chakra, but transform it, as well, to become of the same chakra as different parts of nature. But at that moment all I knew was that he would know I was there if he sensed my chakra as it was easily distinguishable by it's heavy ginger scent (well, that's how I describe it… most describe it as a colour, mine's yellowy orange).

Once I sensed Shino's chakra I imitated it's texture and density, slowly sinking mine into his body. The tendrils of chakra felt around until they found their way into his nervous system. There I sent a sudden shot of oxygen through his veins. My eyes grew wide as I noticed that this was his actual body and that it wasn't a clone. I had disorientated him and now Kiba took out a kunai and slashed his arm violently, before his body adapted.

I stood in astonishment, then pride and joy.

"FUCK YEAH! WE WON! WOOO KIBZ! WE DID IT! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YEEEEAAAAH!" All four of me exclaimed joyously. I then popped my clones.

"WE DID IT LYNX! YOU WERE AMAZING!" Kiba praised me, gladly.

"We make a great team." I concluded, flinging my arms around Kiba in celebration.

The two of us danced around as the others looked on at the scene in mixed confusion, annoyance, jealousy, and incredulity. We were truly insane little people.

"Well done, Lynx, Kiba." Kurenai congratulated us, with a shadow of a smirk on her lips.

"Yes, well done." Kakashi agreed, so did we.

"How'd you two do it?!" Naruto demanded.

"Team work, and a couple of secret techniques." Kibz replied.

"No, seriously, what did you do, Lynx, to confuse Shino like that?"

"Yeah, how did you do that?"

"You're new to all of this! What have you been hiding from us?"

"You were lying to us? What the fuck?! Are you and Lexi really kunoichi from another village, come here to spy on us?!"

I stared, wide-eyed in surprise at them. I had no idea what they were talking about. It was just instinct, I mean, chakra feels on its own… didn't their chakra feel? I wondered. Because my chakra felt and all I had to do was tell it what to do. Maybe most people's chakra was deaf, blind, and dumb, unlike mine, and couldn't be used in such ways. I was so confused!

"I DON'T FRIGGIN KNOW! SHUT UP PEOPLE! Thank you." I told them, breathing a breath of relief. "I don't know what I did, I just let my chakra feel and listen and just told it what to do. I mean, all chakra does that. I don't see what you're all so surprised about. God."

"It felt? And listened? Lynx, how did you find this out?" Kakashi inquired seriously.

"Well, I was good at controlling Chax but he started talking to me so I listened and he turned out to have ears and hands and eyes everywhere, all he needed was me to be able to listen to him. Chax is pretty cool, he said all chakra was the same, it was just the quantity and the abilities of the holder that differ. Chax isn't very big and so he has to use his brains more than his physical ability. That's what he told me," I explained as best as I could. Using my nickname for my chakra.

"Chax?"

"My chakra. It's my nickname for him. Since otherwise he'd just be 'it' and 'chakra'."

"Oh…" I could tell they all thought I was insane. Oh well, they asked, I answered.

Everyone drifted off, except for Lexi.

"You're so strong, Lynx, how did you get that strong in only a few weeks?" She asked, wistfully.

"I'm not strong, really, I just went against a weaker opponent than I. Soon enough everyone will be stronger than me, anyways." I replied modestly.

"Eh, oh well. How've you been, Lynx? I've missed you so much!" She cried happily, flinging her arms around my neck (another hug! Yay!).

"I've been great! Living with Chirou's so much fun! Hehe, he's a great guy and such a good friend! I don't know how I've survived without him these past years! He basically keeps me alive at the moment. How 'bout you? How's Nick?" I rushed, feeling my whole face lift at the thought of Chirou.

"Chirou, hmm? Seems like my little Lynx has a crush!" She chided, earning a playful slap on the arm from me.

"Shaddup!"

"Fine, fine. I'm good, so's Nick. He's been missing you so much! And _God_, he's annoying about it as well! Hehe! Not that I don't miss you but that boy knows how to wind a girl up! Hah! And you thought he was bad before. Yeah right." I giggled at Lexi's teasing.

"Ohhh, I miss you two so bad! It's been insanely hard without you! I mean, I've had to act, like, my age! Gar! It's been next to impossible for me!" I whined, pouting.

Lexi just rolled her eyes and smiled at me. My immaturity getting the best of her. She loved me really! Hehe!

"Doll, I'm gonna go now, kk? I'll miss you!!" She told me, referring to her retreating team.

"Oh my God! Yeah! I'll miss you _soooo _much!" I cried, flinging my arms around her for the second time and clinging onto her small form.

"Love ya, Lynx." She told me gently, prying my arms off her neck.

We arranged to meet up a couple weekends away and parted paths. Little did we know that so much would change.

That I would become suddenly busy with Chirou, and that my teammates would lose all interest in me, and that she would mature in ways she never thought possible. No, we didn't know that. But we would, and we would learn, and we would grow. The world would suddenly start spinning too fast for us to keep up. It would suffocate us.

I'll not dwell on these more depressing aspects of life, instead I'll say goodbye for today and talk to you soon as I get up the motivation to continue writing down our stories! Until then, this is Lynx, signing off!


	19. The end for now

I'm bored of telling you the news of every day, seriously, my life was so routine. Let's skip right to the climaxing points. Far more interesting. Let's get to the _drama_. I like drama, have I told you that already? I hate being in fights, and all, but I love _drama_. And I love saying the word _drama_ really sexy. Hehe.

What should we skip to? How 'bout, Sasuke's big leaving party.

"_Ehhhhharrrrrrrrggggggggh," _I yawned sleepily, thinking _nuu, must sleep more… waaaah_.

"Morning, love." One chirpy Chirou called from the doorway.

What had he just said? Was he being nice to me? Was he _not_ making fun of me? Oh God, what was wrong? I stared at him, frightened, scuttling into the corner of my bed in fear.

"M-morn-morning Chirou. What's wrong?" I stammered.

"Nothing, dear." I narrowed my eyes and sent out my chakra, looking for something out of the ordinary-- nothing. He was just being strange. Goodness, what was wrong with this boy?

"Chirou, why are you being so sweet to me today?" I asked, cutting straight to the point.

"Nothing, Lynx, how did you sleep last night?" He asked, his voice was gentle. He wasn't joking around, something must be actually wrong.

His eyes were soft and when he looked at me he actually _looked_. Not his usual glance over, joke-around eyes, but full out scanning, staring eyes. Their black depths did not seem dead today, but more like softly burning coals. The effect made his face all the more handsome, and fatherly. I worried that something must be very wrong. I was, at this point, far past joking. I felt the tears whelling up because I could feel a heartbreak coming on, how: I'll never know.

"I slept fine Chirou, please tell me, what's wrong?" My voice was soft and my breathing was shallow.

"It's Sasuke," he began, "last night, he left. For good. He knocked Sakura out as he was leaving. We're sending out a team for his rescue; we believe that he's been kidnapped by Sound ninja."

Of course, he'd softened the blow a bit by making it sound as if Sasuke hadn't chosen to leave, but nonetheless I felt my chest being ripped apart from the inside. I was being torn apart, piece by piece. The tears fell, and Chirou flashed over to hold me. There were no clouds in the sky that day when Naruto and the others set out. It was sunny. But I couldn't feel the sun, all I could feel was the vast emptiness of that wide, gaping, cloudless sky. A shock-induced trance. No matter how I cried, no matter how I sobbed, no matter how my heart yearned for a thunder storm; the sun stayed bright, and the skies stayed blue, and all seemed right. Everything but me.

Chirou understood my need for isolation from the rest of the world and turned away any of my friends that came to visit and held me without word for hours and hours. When Naruto came home I let him know how great he'd been for going out there to try and save Sasuke. Sakura did the same, but she couldn't hide her disappointment. She had wanted Sasuke back and, regardless of how she acted towards him, had believed that Naruto could bring him back because he's the strongest ninja that we know.

Then Naruto left. For too long. I stayed with Chirou. I barely saw Sakura. Then Naruto came back, and we completed missions. Too many. Still there was an emptiness in me that seemed to be him. It was like a black hole that I was being sucked into as all the light around me flared and spun wildly. But I held up no resistance. I was ready to fall away. Until the day Chirou came to me with a proposition.

"Hey, Lynx. I need to talk to you," Chirou led me into our sitting room where he sat me down on one of the cushions. "Tsunade-sama (the new hokage that Naruto had convinced into coming to konoha) has come to me and has given me a new team. The team will be made up of you, Lexi, Nick and I - as team leader. We will be Team 14."

"Woah, that's great Chirou." I smiled a wispy smile, but it was more like me than I had been in weeks. Chirou noticed.

"I knew it would make you feel better. Now, let's get our new team members!" He exclaimed, sending me a toothy grin.

"LYNX! HAVE YOU HEARD THE GREAT NEWS? WE'RE GONNA BE ON A TEAM TOGETHER!" Shouted one very happy Nick.

I felt my heart quicken and lighten at his voice and his and Lexi's happy faces. I grinned genuinely. I was gonna be on a team with the people that mattered most in this world to me! Nothing could stop us now. And when Sasuke comes back, we would whup his ass so bad that he'd forget ever leaving this village and his clan's entire annhilation! Hehe! Yay! We could do it! We _would_ do it! Oh yeah, bitches!

We were gonna be a force to reckon with, we were gonna be something special. We _were_ something special.

**That was the end of the First Tale. I'll be posting the Second Tale up soon enough, I already have the first couple of chapters finished!**


	20. Sequel's out!

The sequel to Torn is out, after months of waiting. Hope you all like it!

It's under Waiting.

Please read, rate, and review. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, but, again, not too many flames. Compliments are brilliant, though!


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